Blackballed

I knew pretty early on I wanted to go into family medicine. I had done some trips abroad and and just really felt like primary care was my calling. It was how I could help the most people. I also realized my interest was truly in working with an under-resourced and historically marginalized population. In medical school, I got a scholarship to work at a federally qualified health center, and so then I knew that that was the environment that I wanted to work in as well.

You don't always get a say where you go in what's called the match process for residency, but I ranked it number one, got my number one choice, and I ended up in Idaho.

As far as the type of care I provide with reproductive care, that wasn't something I was a big activist or advocate for when I was in medical school. Because I grew up and worked in other states, I never considered abortion as something that people wouldn’t have as a right.

So it wasn't until I came to Idaho and went to residency here that I realized that this service is very limited to people. We're in desperate need of people who have the skill set to provide abortions and can help people navigate the system in order to have an abortion if they need one. It's not readily available.

There were already abortion restrictions, and I think public perception of what abortion is, within a very conservative state, had caused abortion services to be siloed into very few physicians or organizations.

For OB-GYNs, knowing how to perform abortions is a requirement. But in family medicine it’s not part of the standard curriculum, so you can choose to opt in to get that kind of training if you want.

In the ideal world, you go to see someone that provides OB-GYN care, they should be trained in how to provide an abortion as well. However, a very high majority of folks practicing obstetrics in Idaho don't provide abortions. Some laws that were already on the books pre-Dobbs that made it very, very difficult. But it’s also the public perception. 

When I came here I quickly understood that you would be blackballed if someone found out you provided abortions, especially if you wanted to go practice in a smaller rural community where everyone knows everyone. If word got out that you provided abortions, other doctors would stop referring patients to you. Or community members would tell others not to see you for obstetrics because you provide abortions.

And I think that's why I decided to do abortions, to be honest. It was definitely something that didn't sit well with me, and thinking that people should have the right to get an abortion if they want one. I felt fortunate to be able to be in a residency program that could train that.

I felt like I had to put my money where my mouth was–if providing specific care is a belief of mine and I live in an area where there is a high need–I should be able to provide that kind of care.