Tells the Chattanooga Times Free Press doctors risk prosecution from trigger abortion law
The overturning of Roe v. Wade placed responsibility back on states to enact laws to either protect or ban a woman’s choice to have an abortion. Tennessee’s Human Life Protection Act makes providing abortion treatments a felony in the state. This law presents both hospitals and physicians with new risks to consider when treating women with pregnancy complications.
Dr. Jessica Scotchie laid out these risks in a Chattanooga Times Free Press article about a local OB/GYN who sent her patient on a six-hour ambulance ride for potentially life-saving care. Dr. Scotchie disagrees with legislators who say physicians are exaggerating the risks of being criminalized for providing medical care for women with pregnancy-related issues.
“Attorneys in (Tennessee) have advised hospitals and physicians otherwise and that we do need to be concerned about the risk of providing care to women with highly desired pregnancies but who are having pregnancy complications and need to have a pregnancy ended,” Dr. Scotchie said. “The fact that they think a prosecutor won’t prosecute a physician doesn’t mean a current or future prosecutor won’t try to prosecute us if the law is written such that they legally can prosecute us.”