OBGYN sees surge in appointments, birth control concerns in light of Roe V. Wade
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - It was a senate showdown over abortion rights and women’s health on Capitol Hill Wednesday. A bill aimed at preserving nationwide protections, provided under Roe V. Wade, failed.
Now, legislators are scrambling as Supreme Court justices are set to make a final decision as soon as next month. The uncertainty surrounding the ruling has many women calling their OBGYN.
Dr. Anna Baur with Commonwealth OB/GYN Specialists says she’s seeing more patients than usual. Many women are not hesitating to address new concerns about reproductive choices.
“I think that there is a lot of fear and confusion and just unknown about the future,” Dr. Baur said.
She says many patients are exploring new birth control options and she has seen an increased interest in long-acting forms of birth control like IUDs.
“I’ve had definitely an increase in patients coming in looking at long-acting reversible contraceptives like IUDs,” she said. “Clearly, that’s something we do very regularly for our patients, but there’s definitely been a little bit of an uptick and a few patients have voiced current conditions as a motivating factor for them in making that decision.”
She says the best thing she can do for her patients right now is act as a sounding board.
“Right now, we’re all sort of in a waiting game and the most important thing is to figure out what their goals are for themselves and for their life and what their plans are and to figure out what I can offer them and what’s safe for them to meet those goals,” Dr. Baur said.
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