The complex ethical, medical, and psychological issues relating to women’s health & abortion are nuanced and often non-intuitive. An OB/Gyn doc joins me to help us better understand.
Dr. Alexandre (Alex) West is an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Connecticut. Here’s a link with support services for people with peripartum mood and anxiety disorders, pregnancy loss, and pregnancy termination for medical reasons. Here’s another link for emotional support following pregnancy termination. And here’s information on birth control, miscarriage management and abortion.
Topics & Timecodes
00:00 Intro
03:13 Scope of obstetrics, abortion as a part of the entire reproductive journey, legislator qualifications (or lack thereof)
07:46 Factors leading to unwanted pregnancy, nuances of birth control including eligibility, access & effectiveness
11:41 Ethical considerations including autonomy (personal control), maleficence (helping) & non-maleficence (not doing harm)
19:00 How pregnancy “weeks” are calculated, fetal cardiac activity, PCOS
24:27 Ethics of maternal autonomy vs. fetal autonomy
28:49 Ectopic pregnancy
35:33 The moral matrix, Alt-Middle perspective, mental health, postpartum depression & legislation as a barrier
40:59 Nuance surrounding the definition of “life-threatening,” medical decision-making & potential provider legal implications
45:31 The morning after pill, medication & procedural termination options, Mifepristone & Mifepristol
52:40 Tools, team & trust, teratogenic pregnancies, diabetes & cancer in pregnancy
1:01:44 Preventing unwanted pregnancies, need for education, birth control access, managing baseline health conditions, social determinants of health
1:07:21 Mindfulness, trauma, ACOG’s policy on abortion, the physician/patient relationship, final thoughts
