In response to new reporting on doctors mobilizing to protect reproductive freedom, DNC National Press Secretary Emilia Rowland released the following statement: 

“Across the country, doctors are rising up, organizing, and running for office to protect their patients against MAGA extremists’ life-threatening abortion bans that Trump made possible and last week called ‘beautiful.’ From forming new coalitions to testifying in support of abortion access in statehouses to raising money to elect pro-choice legislators, doctors are raising the alarm about the devastating impact these bans are having on women’s health. Unlike MAGA extremists who are threatening providers with jail time, we trust doctors to do their jobs — why don’t Republicans?”

At the federal level, physicians played key roles in getting the Food and Drug Administration to approve an over-the-counter birth control pill and allow telehealth abortion care.

In Indiana, doctors have mobilized to form the Good Trouble Coalition, which has been giving testimony and expertise to the Indiana Statehouse on issues ranging from abortion and public health financing to gender-affirming care.

In Nebraska, a group of eight female doctors have become major players in the state’s abortion fight, forming a political action committee called Campaign for a Healthy Nebraska. These women are battling any bills that would restrict abortion and raising money to hire political advisors to target spending on key legislative races. 

In Ohio, doctors mobilized to form the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights coalition, which successfully fought to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution, adding protections for abortion, miscarriage care, contraception, and in vitro fertilization.

In Pennsylvania, more than 80 physicians and other health care providers signed a letter warning that more than 2.4 million women in the state might lose access to affordable birth control and contraception if Trump gets reelected. 

In Texas, two doctors who had the courage to be plaintiffs in an abortion ban lawsuit testified about the chilling effect the state’s abortion ban laws have had on them and their practice. 

Increasing restrictions on reproductive health care from MAGA extremists are spurring a wave of doctors to mobilize to advocate for abortion rights.

Axios: “The wave of state abortion restrictions that began after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 has led Democratic-leaning doctors to become an organizing and political force against such laws.

“Why it matters: Doctors driving the backlash say many of the new state laws jeopardize patients’ health and restrict their ability to practice medicine…

“The big picture: In Ohio, doctors have worked to pass a ballot measure that enshrined reproductive rights into the state’s constitution. In Texas, they’ve battled in court over a narrow exception to the state’s abortion ban.

“At least six Democratic doctors are running for competitive House seats this year, seizing on voters’ concerns about reproductive health and high health care costs, Axios Pro’s Victoria Knight reported.

“Zoom in: Ohio pediatrician Lauren Beene, who worked on the Ohio ballot measure, said she hadn’t been involved in politics before the Supreme Court eliminated the federal right to an abortion.

“That all changed when she heard from patients and their parents about the consequences of losing abortion access in a state that was among those with a ban after six weeks of pregnancy.

“‘We really felt strongly that doctors needed to be at the front of this movement for reproductive rights, because it’s our responsibility to make sure our patients can get the care that they need,’ Beene told Axios…

“Kristin Lyerly, a Wisconsin OB-GYN running as a Democrat for an open House seat, says that having more physicians in Congress who support abortion rights would ‘completely redefine the conversation that we’re having’ about access to care…

“The bottom line: The urgency of the abortion debate has many Democratic physicians convinced they’re on the cusp of a new movement.

‘‘The newer generations of doctors … are advocating in a very different way than our predecessors did,’ Lyerly said. ‘It’s the dawn of a new day.’”