The overturn of Roe v. Wade did not come as a surprise to many, though some Valley clinicians tell us it is a bombshell, nonetheless.
Some physicians say they are devastated for what this immediately means for women, and women’s rights is among them.
One doctor who says he is going to continue to provide care until the state tells him not to.
“We have patients coming from Texas right now. Who travel days, thousands of dollars because of the six-week heartbeat law there. We generally do about 150 procedures a month,” said Dr. Ronald Yunis.
He says he’s reached out to the Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich for clarity, asking if he should stop, but has not heard back.
We also talked to a retired physician, Dr. Susan Hughes, who says this is a major setback for women, including her 14-year-old daughter.
She talked about how dangerous having an abortion outside of a certified clinic can be.
“A woman had attempted her own abortion at home, and I remember furiously, you know, assisting with the OBGYN, trying to save the woman’s life. We were able to save her life, but not the uterus,” added Dr. Hughes.
Lastly, we spoke to an OBGYN in Scottsdale, Dr. Julie Kwatra, who says regardless of whether abortions are legal, they will still happen.
She says, with this decision, access to safe abortions is the main concern — especially in underserved communities.
“Health care access in general and abortion access in particular was always harder for women that were poor. For vulnerable communities. So women of color, and rural women that struggle with access to health care,” Dr. Kwatra told ABC15.
ABC15 called several abortion clinics Friday, many of their employees telling us they are fearful of being targeted and concerned about the safety of their patients following the announcement.
One clinic that offers abortion services in Phoenix let ABC15 know it had to close their abortion services before noon, after the state told them to stop the procedures immediately.
