NEW BRUNSWICK – The 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade produced two somewhat contradictory results.
Returning abortion rights to the states has caused a considerable amount of chaos.
And it has given the Democrats a great campaign issue.
Starting with the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats have exceeded expectations in a post-Roe world. It may have gone unnoticed, but Democrats gained six seats in the state legislature last fall. In addition, seven states have held referendums on abortion over the past two years, and the Abortion Rights Party has won every one of them.
Democrats obviously hope that this is a political gift that will bring joy for a long time to come.
Representative Frank Pallone called a “roundtable discussion” on Wednesday to introduce a report from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Pallone is the ranking member.
During the panel discussion at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Pallone highlighted the alarming findings of the report published by his committee.
The title of the report, “It’s only getting worse,” aptly sums up the findings.
The focus was on the negative impact of the Dobbs decision on women’s health and the future of medical education.
In particular, the congressman from District 6, which includes parts of Middlesex and Monmouth counties, spoke about states where abortion rights have been severely restricted or even eliminated. He said this movement has spread to other areas with myriad problems.
He spoke of “substandard training” for gynecologists and pointed out that continuing education programs in “restricted states” do not train doctors in dealing with life-threatening pregnancy complications.
This results in patients “suffering serious consequences, including death, because doctors are unable to provide them with timely and appropriate help,” the report says.
Institutions in states like New Jersey, where abortion rights are protected, can fill the gap. But their programs are often overwhelmed because they must also accommodate people from other states, Pallone says.
Participants in the panel included representatives from New Jersey Planned Parenthood, Physicians for Reproductive Health, faculty and students from Rutgers University, and members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
All agreed with the report’s conclusion and pointed out that such problems arise when individual states adopt their own rules on reproductive rights.
Essentially, this is a medical problem, but it is suspected that the political background was not lost on anyone at Wednesday’s event.
The Democrats are in favor of free choice, the Republicans generally are not.
This gap has been closing in favor of the Democrats over the past two years, and it could actually do so again.
Events like this dramatize the debate and at the same time serve as a kind of battle cry.
During the hour-long discussion, Pallone touched on politics and the significance of this year’s election.
He said if Republicans were in control, “they would try to ban abortion nationwide.” He added:
“So that’s the problem we’re facing in this political environment.”
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