The study surveyed over 50 health care providers across the nation. Providers expressed fear over legal backlash when caring for a patient with difficulties previously resolved by abortions, Texas Policy Evaluation Project spokesperson Laura Dixon said.
“[Providers] are finding that sometimes they cannot care for their patients the ways that they know best,” Dixon said. “They're undergoing deep moral distress, because they're being forced to put their patient's health at risk.”
In Texas, eight months prior to the overturning of Roe, abortions were banned past six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021.
Additionally, lack of abortion access is only one part of the issues Texans face when it comes to reproductive health, Dixon said.
The state has the highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, making reproductive health care such as contraceptives difficult to access, according to Every Body Texas, a nonprofit that distributes Title X funds, a federal grant program for family planning services.
“Without effective long-term contraception and access, there are women who are relegated to dealing with the politics of Texas,” said Lamia Kadir, board certified family medicine doctor at Pandia Health and founder of Family Medicine Austin. “Access is a national problem, but is it more of a problem in Texas? The unfortunate answer is yes.”
Birth control options can cost anywhere from $15 for options such as a daily pill or emergency contraception, to over $800 for longer-term options like an implant or IUD, Kadir said.
“Health care providers really need to be able to practice medicine without political interference, because the health and well-being of their patients depend on it,” Dixon said.
