Abortion Bans and High-Risk Pregnancy: What Happens When the Law Is in the Exam Room

What happens when a physician knows what care a pregnant patient needs—but providing it could expose that physician to criminal charges?I sit down with maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. David Hackney, author of Impossible Choices, to examine what changed inside the exam room after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.We discuss how abortion bans affect far more than elective abortion. They can shape the care of women facing miscarriage, cancer, heart or kidney disease, severe pregnancy complications, and fetal conditions incompatible with life. Dr. Hackney explains the critical legal difference between an “exception” and an “affirmative defense,” and why uncertainty about the law can delay medical decisions when time matters most.This is not simply a political conversation. It is a candid look at what happens when the law enters the exam room—and doctors and patients are left to make impossible choices.Show Notes: https://drloristevic.com/abortion-bans-high-risk-pregnancy-care/