Oregon Doctor Testifies to U.S. Senate on Idaho’s Abortion Bans

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Amelia Huntsberger testified to U. S. Senators,  “I currently live and work in Oregon, but previously practiced medicine in rural Idaho for more than a decade. I was on the advisory board of the Idaho Perinatal Project, that worked to advance the health of moms.”

The board certified OB/GYN says she and many other doctors who serve mothers have had to move out of Idaho, and to states like Oregon and Washington, after the U. S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

“Idaho enacted some of the strictest abortion restrictions in the country, without exceptions to allow doctors to act to preserve a pregnant patient’s health.  Not even to prevent harm to organs or fertility, unless an abortion is necessary to prevent death.   The lawmakers who created these bills knew it. The cruelty was built in.”

She added, “Doctors in Idaho like me tried to raise awareness of the harm from the abortion bans. I naively thought that if people just understood the laws, they’d change them.  As a result of talking publicly about abortion, we began to fear for the safety of our family. Just over a year ago, we packed our things and moved to Oregon.”

Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which held a hearing about the impacts on women’s health.

He said, “Women are miscarrying, suffering life threatening blood loss, losing their ability to bear future children.  They are dying because they were denied emergency medical care that they needed. Doctors are being targeted or forced to relocate to states where they can practice basic medicine.”

Wyden described horrific scenes and agonizing choices.  “A woman may come into the emergency room with an ectopic pregnancy or bleeding out from a miscarriage.  Some states that have passed abortion bans into law claim that they contain exceptions for emergency care if a woman’s life is at risk. In reality, these exceptions, are forcing doctors to play lawyer and lawyers to play doctor.”

Outside the hearing on the Capitol steps, Washington U. S. Senator Patty Murray said, “We should all refuse to accept a status quo in America where pregnant women are dying.”