Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Reproductive Health Care Clinic | Portage, MI

Private OfficePortage, Michigan 2:40 P.M. EDT THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all for allowing us to have this conversation. And one of the reasons that I wanted to visit with you is you all are on the ground doing this very, very critical and important work. And since the Dobbs decision came down two years ago, I do believe that we as a country have faced a health care crisis, and, yes, it includes the concern that we have about people's access to abortion care and then the punishing of women, the criminalization of health care providers, but also we've seen clinics close around the country that provide all types of care, from Paps to breast cancer screenings, HIV testing, and so much else and just safe places for people to go. DR. HENRY: Yes. THE VICE PRESIDENT: I know there's also been an impact in terms of students thinking about their career as physicians and what type of practice they would actually engage in and where they would go. We've been talking about health care deserts - DR. HENRY: Yes. THE VICE PRESIDENT: - which we know is a long-standing concern but then exasperated by what we've seen most recently. And so, I wanted to ask you, the experts, the trained and experienced folks who do the noble and important work of health care, to share a bit about how you are experiencing this moment in a way that can highlight the realities of this moment, the harm, and the reason why people, like here in the state of Michigan, should be concerned even though they're not in Texas, where I was and just left, but understanding if there were a national abortion ban, what it would mean for women and people throughout the country. So, Doctor, if you want to lead the discussion, but I would love to hear from you. DR. ROGERS: Yes, we have Dr. Lakshmi Sundaresan that was going to respond to that question, but I'll just say that it is very important that this not widen the gap of health disparities, that - that the care of a - a woman is between her and her doctor, and that it not further cause shortages of those physicians across the country. DR. SUNDARESAN: So, I'm a family medicine physician and an abortion provider here on the western side of the state. I think we don't have to imagine what a post-Dobbs world looks like. We're living in a world that already has abortion bans that typically are regionally dependent. Here on the western side of the state, we represent not only a safety net for our region here in the Midwest, but over the last 18 months, we - we've seen an influx of patients that are coming particularly from the South and the Southeast because of care deserts and already restrictive abortion bans. But what we're talking about here, especially with respect to this election, is that - and you - you know this better than we do - is that there's an opportunity for multiple Supreme Court decisions that we will all be living through not just in terms of the political landscape but as physicians who are living through that experience with our patients. And what is at stake is not just what we're doing with respect to abortion care but what reproductive justice means at-large. We're talking about access to gender-affirming services. We're talking about access to contraception. And we're talking about everyone's ability to access care. THE VICE PRESIDENT: And - and including, to your point, prenatal care, postpartum care - all of that work that is done by physicians and - and folks such as you and - and existing, in many states with the fear that if you then do that work, somehow you may be punished or criminalized for doing that work. DR. SUNDARESAN: And we have state protections in Michigan right now after 2022, but there is still a very real possibility of a federal ban. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. How do you think about this in the context of what is happening in your profession and with - I - I know - I know you, even though we've all met just now, well enough to know that you are active in your profession - DR. HENRY: Yes. THE VICE PRESIDENT: - and probably very much in touch with your colleagues from around the country. How are physicians and medical students talking about this moment right now and the fears, the challenges, the concerns and also what you would like to do in terms of - now you have all these microphones in front of you - right? - the public education about what this moment means from your perspective? MS. HINNERS: Yeah, I think as medical students, we kind of have found ourselves in this sort of limbo. You know, we put all this hard work and time into doing what we want to, and we're supposed to be excited about that, but there is this decision looming on November 5th that has this chance to monumentally impact our careers before they even start. Like, we haven't dipped our toe in the pond yet. And I know for me personally, that is affecting my decision on residency applications coming up soon. Like, I would like to be able to practice the medicine that I want to practice and give health care to people who need it. And, I mean, we're not just talking about a few abortion restrictions. We're talking about these very extreme bans that maybe don't even have exceptions for rape or incest and things like that. And I am a survivor of sexual assault. I volunteer with survivors of sexual assault. And the thought that I, potentially in the future, will not be able to provide people with the breadth of health care that I think is required after such a traumatic event like that is enough to, like, make me sick. So, I am doing all that I can to make sure that my future that I have worked for for the past 26 years looks how I want it to, and I really hope that other people are kind of joining me in that. THE VICE PRESIDENT: It does - this moment does require, among many things, knowledge about what's going on and also just empathy, which is when we know that there are people who are suffering, don't we, collectively, as a society, want to end that suffering and give them the care they need with the dignity they deserve. What else would you each or all like to share wh- - while we have all these folks here, who can, I think, benefit - and I certainly can - from what you all can share, in terms of what you see uniquely that we may not see about the effect of Dobbs in this moment on your profession, on your clients, on your - on your patients, on your community? How are you thinking about this moment in terms of even just what we do legislatively, what we do from a policy perspective? DR. ROGERS: I am concerned about physicians in training, as our medical students are, and them making decisions about where they would do residency or where they would do training and that maybe not being in states and areas where they don't have abortion rights and women don't have the rights over their lives. So, that could create a further shortage in some of those areas where there's already physician shortages and there's already health disparities. DR. HENRY: Yeah, because we already see where patients have to travel miles and miles to get the care that they need, and there have been stories where even when they get to those places to receive the help, they can't get it because the physicians are afraid, and that's not what we want. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Right. Or, to your point, overwhelmed - right? - in terms of you are taking in patients from states surrounding a state that still provides care and - and do you have the hours - PARTICIPANT: Yes. THE VICE PRESIDENT: - and do you have the personnel and staff to be able to actually handle it. (The press departs as the conversation continues.) END 2:48 P.M. EDT The post Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Reproductive Health Care Clinic | Portage, MI appeared first on The White House.