07/17/2022
I just had a client leave and I couldn’t give her any helpful answers. Pregnancy stopped growing two weeks ago and has no heartbeat. She’s never miscarried before (multiple pregnancies) and doesn’t know what to expect. Normally after a while one would start cramping and bleeding because the uterus will try to evacuate all of the retained products of conception. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. Sometimes women need help to evacuate their uterus with a DNC, just like some women never go into labor and have to have a C-section.There’s no way to know ahead of time whether you will need one or not. However if her body does not evacuate the retained products of conception she can get septic and die. She literally has a double digit number of kids to care for that need her, so THAT is not an option. But I have no idea whether she can even GET a DNC in Oklahoma now. I had to tell her the gravity of not seeing a doctor asap, and tell her that everything has changed now and doctors are afraid, and that I really don’t know what to tell her that she can count on, but to let me know if she needs help and I will find her help. This is so FUBAR.  There is a 6 wk heartbeat law here with no exception in Oklahoma for r**e or in**st. Zero. Some people say well I’m never going to have an abortion so it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to keep up with politics. Yes the hell you do. The reversal of Roe v. Wade will affect everyone. People who have MS and have to take methotrexate have to stop taking that medicine now if they get pregnant because it will cause a miscarriage. Other people on other meds are affected. 10 year old r**e victims should not be required to carry a baby full-term and deliver it. Ectopic pregnancies are COMMON ! Especially if you’ve ever had your tubes tied because scar tissue can grow them back together again. In fact, the majority of ectopic pregnancies that I’ve found in my career have been in women who have had their tubes tied.I Garen damn T ya that when politicians and supreme court justices mistresses get pregnant they’ll get an abortion. Abortion is healthcare. It is not birth control, but it is healthcare. A woman, her family, and her doctor deserve to make those decisions. Don’t be part of the clueless uninvolved masses of Oklahomans that can’t think past their own little world of experience; be informed voters, because women that you know WILL die unnecessarily. Some of my patients will die. And I bitterly resent that. This is 2022 not 1948.
