Overturned Roe v. Wade Has Broader Implications

Picture this: A 26 year old woman with 3 kids is referred to a neurologist. She presents with a malignant brain tumor and she is pregnant. To stay alive, the woman needs immediate surgery, radiation and chemotherapy that she cannot get while pregnant.

This scenario is one of the potential unexpected consequences of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“I think we are all extremely concerned that this decision is going to become very heavily scrutinized and we will have to defend our judgment when we make medical decisions, so I anticipate we will have to rely heavily on our legal department to assist us,” says Paola Sandroni, MD, PhD at the Mayo Clinic.

There are some exceptions in place. In Georgia, the state allows for medical emergency exceptions. The neurosurgical oncologist would have to use an attorney to make the case that the brain tumor treatment is emergent.

Several factors could impact an attorney’s ruling, such as what trimester the woman is in and how fast the tumor may grow, but then who decides when the risk is too high and would an attorney stipulate that the woman cannot have an abortion until she’s at 60% risk of death, 75%, 90%?

“It is extremely unfortunate as the language talks about imminent danger, which would prevent intervention at an earlier stage so some patients will arrive in truly desperate situations and from a medical standpoint this makes absolutely no sense,” Sandroni says.

Some hospitals currently have their own attorneys but not to make clinical decisions. There is a question as to whether medical centers will need to have on-call lawyers.

It will be important to monitor the impact of these situations on the mental health of women and families, specifically those who become pregnant in the future. For example, there are some initial indications from our limited polling that the interplay between the Roe v. Wade decision and pregnancy will create a new generation of woman with higher rates of depression and anxiety.