Nancy Pelosi hears about providers' fears about reproductive rights at Downers Grove event
Scared patients. Long waits for procedures. Doctors afraid of prosecution for how they treat patients.
Panelists on a discussion Friday about abortion and other reproductive health care told U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that's what they are experiencing after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
"I feel pretty emotional listening to the evidence that you bring to the table that we (in Congress) know about but that you can document," Pelosi told the panel at Advocate Aurora Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
The event was organized by Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove. Pelosi had attended a fundraiser Thursday night for Casten and other Illinois Democrats seeking reelection.
When asked about the effect of the midterm elections on the issue, Pelosi said Republicans in Congress want to ban abortions nationwide. Access to contraception also is an issue, she said.
"Your right to choose is on the ballot. Your freedom, the respect for you to live up to your own responsibilities," Pelosi told the speakers and a crowd watching.
The panelists included several doctors. Casten asked them what they are experiencing in their practices and what legislation would help.
Several doctors spoke of the increased fear and anxiety they see in their patients since the overturning of Roe v. Wade this summer. They said the patients are afraid that - even though Illinois still allows broad access to abortion - legislators could take that away, as well as contraceptives and other health care.
One spoke of a delay in care for a patient with irregular periods because the teenage patient had deleted the data from a menstrual-tracking app for fear government authorities could use it to prosecute her in the future. The teen could not remember the dates of her periods.
Dr. Erica Hinz said clinics immediately need infrastructure and supplies for the influx of abortion patients from states that have largely banned abortion. Illinois, New York and California also need more resources to train resident doctors from medical schools in other states where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, she said.
Dr. Amy Addante said she would like regulation of crisis pregnancy centers that mislead pregnant women in several ways.
One of her patients had a pamphlet from such a center that said she would have to fill out and submit a form to re-enter the state of Wisconsin after having an abortion in Illinois. The centers don't give correct medical information, she said.
Besides their private practice work, Addante and Hinz also provide care at Planned Parenthood clinics.
Deborah DeChinistso of Wheaton said some crisis pregnancy centers deliberately delay giving women health services and information until the woman is in her second trimester, when an abortion procedure becomes more medically complicated. DeChinistso was a member of Founding Mothers, a group of DuPage County women who set up a women's clinic at a Wheaton church in the early 1970s.
Jennifer Welch, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, said that since the Supreme Court decision, about one-third of its abortion clients come from 30 other states. In addition, the clinics are also seeing more out-of-state patients for birth control or "gender-affirming" care, such as hormone therapy.