Spotlight on....

October 20, 2012

After Representative Joe Walsh (R-Illinois) declared that "there is no such thing" as abortions that are necessary to save women's lives or health, PRCH physicians talked to multiple media outlets to stand up for their patients' need for abortions in medical emergencies.

Consulting Medical Director Anne Davis, MD, MPH, told Reuters, "When a patient wants to be pregnant, we do everything we can to get her through the pregnancy safely, but sometimes we're in a corner, and there's nothing we can do but end the pregnancy."

Former Leadership Training Academy Fellow Sara Imershein, MD, gave Politico examples of the "numerous situations" in which the life of the woman would be a reason to terminate a pregnancy, such as cancer and hemorrhaging.

In USA Today, Leadership Training Academy Fellow Erika Levi, MD, MPH, also named conditions that can threaten a woman's life during pregnancy: severe infections, heart failure, and severe cases of preeclampsia.

October 19, 2012

An Associated Press article on state anti-abortion legislation featured three PRCH physicians. PRCH board members Willie Parker, MD, MPH, MSc (at left), and Marvin Buehner, MD, and former Leadership Training Academy Fellow Renee Mestad, MD (at right), have all practiced in areas of the country where state laws interfered with their patients’ access to abortion. Dr. Mestad used to practice in Missouri (she now works in New York State); Dr. Buehner is in South Dakota; and Dr. Parker travels from Washington, DC, to Alabama, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania. Read the article here.

October 19, 2012

Former Leadership Training Initiative Fellow Radha Lewis, MD, MS, spoke to RH Reality Check to refute an anti-abortion extremist's claims that abortion clinics perform procedures on women who aren't pregnant. "We give every woman who comes in saying she is pregnant a pregnancy test, and if it is negative, we offer them birth control," not an abortion, explained Dr. Lewis. To say otherwise "... is to assume that women are stupid and physicians unethical."

October 10, 2012

Last Thursday, the new class of Leadership Training Academy Fellows met with 40 House and Senate offices to promote the Shaheen Amendment, which would allow members of the military to use their health insurance for abortion in instances of rape and incest. Pictured: Fellows Carolyn Nemec, MD, InSung Min, MD, MPH, and Lucia McLendon, MD, MPH. See more photos from the Fellows’ day on Capitol Hill.