On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the federal right to abortion. Although there have long been medically-unnecessary restrictions on reproductive health care, patients and physicians have seen them grow significantly in the year since the Supreme Court’s decision to end all federal protections for abortion. At least 14 states have either partially or entirely banned abortion, and an April 2023 analysis found more than 66,000 patients had not been able to receive abortion services in their states as a result of these laws. While many of those who have the means to do so are now travelling to states where access remains legal, tens of thousands of patients have been unable to get needed care. These profound disruptions to reproductive health care have come amidst an ongoing maternal mortality crisis, which is having a more profound impact in those states enacting abortion bans. In 2021, the rate of pregnancy-related death increased forty percent and Black, Indigenous, and other women of color continue to face rates of mortality and morbidity two to three times higher than that of white women.

ACP has taken numerous steps to advocate for reproductive health care, our patients, and the practice of medicine amidst this rapidly changing policy landscape. Following the Dobbs decision, ACP came together with the American Medical Women’s Association and other organizations as part of the Reproductive Health Coalition, with more than 40 groups that collectively represent 150 million people. We have worked to ensure our ACP members have access to up-to-date information and resources, including by updating our state health policy toolkit on Reproductive Health multiple times as conditions in the states have changed. In March 2023, ACP published Reproductive Health Policy in the United States: An American College of Physicians Policy Brief, with new recommendations to protect patient access in light of Dobbs.

ACP chapters across the country have also taken a variety of actions to support access to reproductive health care in their states. Some examples include:

• ACP Arizona joined other medical organizations to form a coalition to protect health care in the state, issuing a joint statement on the importance of protecting the patient-physician relationship and opposing the criminalization of evidence-based care.
• The Vermont chapter collaborated with other physician organizations in its state to speak out about threats to mifepristone, amidst legal challenges that seek to revoke the FDA’s 2002 approval of this medication used in the most common method of abortion.
• In June 2023, ACP Indiana and ACP National sent a joint letter to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board in support of Dr. Caitlin Bernard after the Board reprimanded Dr. Bernard for speaking out about providing an abortion to a child victim of rape who was one of the thousands of patients navigating abortion bans.

ACP is committed to protecting access to reproductive health care, to restoring access for those who have lost it, and to defending all patients and clinicians from inappropriate governmental interference in health care. Please consult our state health policy toolkit on Reproductive Health for more information or reach out to ACP National using the Advocacy Assistance Request Form with any questions about reproductive health policy in your state.