Sunday, September 26, 2021

Sunday Best: The Texas abortion law just faced its first test

Doctors are caught between the law and their duty of care.

Last week, two lawsuits were filed against a doctor after he wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post explaining why he had intentionally violated Texas' abortion law shortly after it was introduced. He's not the only medical professional struggling to balance the requirements of the new law with their obligation to patients. "I am an obstetrician-gynecologist, and it is my ethical duty to take care of people," Ghazaleh Moayedi wrote in a Times Opinion guest essay last week. "It is also my ethical duty to refer those patients elsewhere when I'm barred from taking care of them where they are."

And as Ezra Klein pointed out on his latest podcast episode, restricting this type of care without a second thought overlooks a key fact: "There is a violence to pregnancy, a constant lurking and often realized threat. Pregnancy is dangerous. It kills. It scars. It traumatizes." That Texas and other states are willing to force a person to go through this kind of trauma makes one thing patently clear: The "body has been effectively taken into the state's control, conscripted no matter the cost to it. No matter the cost to that person."

— Jennifer Brown

Article Image

The New York Times

The Future of Work Should Mean Working Less

Americans are not just burned out and underpaid — our entire relationship to work is broken.

By Jonathan Malesic

Article Image

Illustration by Claire Merchlinsky/The New York Times; photographs by Erik Von Weber, Matthias Kulka, via Getty Images

Jeneen Interlandi

The World Is at War With Covid. Covid Is Winning.

The world can't end this pandemic — or prevent the next one — without global vaccine equity.

By Jeneen Interlandi

Article Image

Mauro Macchi/EyeEm via Getty Images

Guest Essay

'It's Become Increasingly Hard for Them to Feel Good About Themselves'

A new gender gap in education has profound political and economic consequences. 

By Thomas B. Edsall

Article Image

Michael Morris

John McWhorter

Gender Pronouns Are Changing. It's Exhilarating.

Embrace "they" for "he" or "she." Pronoun history is fluid.

By John McWhorter

ADVERTISEMENT

Subscribe Today

New York Times Opinion curates a wide range of views, inviting rich discussion and debate that helps readers analyze the world. This work is made possible with the support of subscribers. Please consider subscribing to The Times with this special offer.

Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance.

You received this email because you signed up for Sunday Best from The New York Times.

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Subscribe to The Times

Connect with us on:

facebooktwitterinstagram

Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices

LiveIntent LogoAdChoices Logo

The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018

No comments:

Post a Comment