Ahead of Texas’ abortion ban going into effect on Sept. 1, NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an OB/GYN, about what it means for abortion providers and patients there.
MARTIN: Could you talk more about – without compromising their privacy, of course – like, what are some of the other things that patients have been saying to you as this deadline approaches? Is there heightened fear?
MOAYEDI: Yes. People are very afraid. People understand, right? They understand that the abortion that they’re having this week, last week, the week before, is something that they wouldn’t be able to have next week. They’ve been asking about it and asking, you know, if I were here in September, would I be able to get this?
And, you know, this is a story I’ve told often, but a few years ago, when our state legislator was debating a different bill – it was a bill that would give the death penalty to people that got an abortion and to providers who provided abortion, right? – something so extreme. And it didn’t make it very far. But I had a patient that week that came in and told me, doc, I know that I’m going to get the death penalty for this, but I need this abortion. That is very real.