In midlife, I would say we both don’t have enough knowledge or tools. The research should have been started more than 50 years ago. We should have had many, many, many studies about this period of life, so that we have different tools, not just hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Then we have a lack of provider training, which is the piece I’m going to work on with this particular amount of funding.
How much ripple effect has the Dobbs decision had on access to women’s reproductive services?
I will give you one example of what I have seen personally since the rollback of the Dobbs decision. I was in a few different places in Louisiana late last year. I met a woman who was pregnant. She happened to be Black, and she said she knew she was in trouble. It was not her first child. She was in her third trimester, and she called into the system. They said, “No, no, stay home.” She called in again—”no, no, stay home.” By the time she went in 48 hours later, it was too late and she lost her baby. It is too hard for women to have access. So why would we be creating more chaos and confusion in the system?
Even the doctors who are there getting training are saying, “I’m not sure which services I can give in this state vs. not,” or, “What if I don’t get trained in my residency on how to do certain things for women’s health, but then I get a job in a hospital in a different state?” It just it doesn’t make any sense.