Health reform matters to women. Help PRCH explain why. Share your story about a patient who suffered because she couldn't afford reproductive health care.

I've done it -- see the first story below. PRCH has a terrific opportunity to share physicians' stories: the Women's Day of Action for Health Care Reform, sponsored by the National Women's Law Center, on November 4 in Washington, DC. The event will include a 24-hour vigil with readings of stories about patients. 

We have already brought some physician stories to the media and lawmakers -- see examples here and below. These stories work. Our authority, expertise, and compassion make people listen.

Share your stories. Help women have affordable access to contraception, prenatal care, abortion, well-woman care, and other reproductive health services.

Please send your stories to Alexandra Ringe, PRCH’s managing editor, on or before Thursday, October 29.

Thank you for contributing your stories!

Sincerely,
Willie Parker, MD, MPH
Board Member, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health

Sample Stories

A woman who was 16 weeks pregnant and had an alcohol problem came to me for an abortion. She knew that she was not ready to be a mother. But she had a condition with her placenta that made abortion risky, and I had to tell her that the procedure would require a hospital stay, making it much more expensive.

She didn't have insurance or enough money to cover the termination. She had no choice but to continue the pregnancy. I got her into prenatal care. That was the best I could do.

***

Last year, I treated a woman with cervical cancer. She was very sick and had no insurance. She had never had a Pap smear, so by the time her cervical cancer was detected, it had metastasized. She was still fairly young -- in her 50s -- but was dying in a hospital because she didn’t get medical care.

***

Melinda had large fibroids in her uterus that made her bleed heavily. She was on the verge of losing her job and her health insurance. I prescribed birth control pills, which controlled the bleeding. Then, as sometimes happens with fibroids, the pills stopped working. By that point, she had no insurance.

One day Melinda bled so heavily she was dizzy and unable to walk. We advised her to get to the emergency room immediately. She was in shock; the ER staff gave her a blood transfusion that saved her life.

The next step in her care would be an operation to remove the fibroids. But once Melinda was stable, the doctors discharged her. Hospitals are required to try to keep every patient alive, but they don’t have to provide nonemergency care to people who can't pay.