Author: Bonnie Fuller

Bonnie Fuller is the former CEO and editor-in-chief of HollywoodLife.com, and former editor-in-chief of Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and US Weekly. She is now writing about reproductive freedom and politics. She is the author of the Substack "Your Body, Your Choice."

How Texas Abortion Restrictions Are Driving Doctors Away: ‘By Following the Law, I Was Doing the Wrong Thing Medically’

Texas’ abortion bans have driven hundreds of physicians to leave the state, retire early, or avoid practicing and training there altogether. Dr. Lou Rubino is one of many doctors forced out, unable to provide not only abortion care but also life-saving emergency treatment.

“I remember very clearly the moment I knew I was done. I could no longer practice as a women’s healthcare doctor in Texas.

“I had a patient, probably 18 or 19 years old. I was doing an ultrasound, and she told me she needed an abortion for her safety. She said, ‘I’m too young. I don’t feel safe with my partner. I’m scared. I need an abortion.’

“When a patient tells me they feel unsafe with a partner, I take that very seriously. Pregnant people are at high risk of harm from abusive partners. It’s a dangerous time. She knew what she needed, and I knew it was wrong for me to say no. … I asked myself: Am I the kind of doctor who does the wrong thing? I’m not. And Texas couldn’t force me to be.

“Not long after, my husband and I moved to Virginia, where I now practice.”

Texas’ Abortion Law Forced This Woman to Choose: ‘Watch My Baby Die or Flee My Home for Medical Help’

Eighth-generation Texan Megan Bond recounted the stories of her dangerous pregnancies to Courier Texas writer Bonnie Fuller. Here’s what happened, in her own words:

“I was 15 weeks pregnant and had just had my anatomy scan. As my husband, Kevin, and I watched the technician, we could see for ourselves on the ultrasound screen that our baby boy, Teddy, had no amniotic fluid around him inside my womb. … The sound that came out of my mouth was not human. It was such a loud scream, like a banshee or something. … Our second desperately wanted baby was suffering from the same fatal fetal anomaly, bilateral renal agenesis, as our first baby. … This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“I asked my doctor if, in our case with this diagnosis, I could end the pregnancy in Texas and she said, ‘No, in Texas your only option is to carry to term.'”

Meet Milwaukee’s New Abortion Clinic and Its Determined Medical Director: ‘Everybody Needs Abortions’

A new healthcare center in Milwaukee, Care For All Community Clinic, provides both surgical and medication abortions, as well as miscarriage care, to anyone with a uterus—regardless of their ability to pay, or their immigration status. In coming months, STI testing, emergency contraception, pap smears to test for cervical cancer, contraceptive counseling, and gender-affirming care will also be available.

“It’s easy to think that, oh, someone else can do it, but they actually can’t,” said Dr. A, the medical director the nonprofit clinic. “There are not that many OB-GYNs out there, and there’s going to be even fewer and fewer as the years go by. If I know how to do this safely and well, I want to help.”

“The thing they express to me afterward is relief and gratitude,” she added. “I feel like I’ve never had patients that are so thankful and filled with gratitude as the patients that I do abortions for.”

“There are always going to be forces that don’t want us to do abortions,” Dr. A said, “and their goal is to make us scared. But we can’t let them win.”

I’m a Texas-Born OB-GYN—But Abortion Bans Are Forcing Me Out

Vi Burgess is a resident physician in Colorado, in training to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. The Texas resident went to medical school in the Lone Star State, but says she’d be terrified to return home to practice medicine.

“I’d be terrified to go back to Texas to practice as an OB-GYN after I finish my residency. I’d be absolutely terrified. It’s not so much that I’d be terrified of getting thrown in jail, but terrified that I won’t be able to provide care to a woman—and that would lead to serious harm or death.

“I think that’s every doctor’s biggest fear—not being able to help and ultimately ending up hurting someone. But that’s the situation that OB-GYNs and other doctors are now in, in Texas.”

‘An Abortion Saved My Life After I Got Leukemia’

Mom Abby Blum tells why she was forced her to end her much-wanted pregnancy. She warns that an unexpected tragic event can happen to any woman—even if they think they’ll never need an abortion.

“It felt like an impossible choice, but I decided to go ahead and have the abortion to end my pregnancy so I could start the treatment I needed to save my life. … For me, the abortion was a medical necessity. And, in hindsight, I realize that in the post-Roe v. Wade era, I was lucky to be in a state where I had access to an abortion and to all the healthcare that I needed. ….

“If I had lived in a state like Texas, which bans abortion in nearly all cases, my story would have had a very different ending. I didn’t choose to get cancer and to have to make the decision to end my pregnancy, but that’s what can sometimes happen in life.”

Texas’ SB 31 Could Loosen the State’s Abortion Ban in Life-Threatening Cases. Doctors Say It’s Still Not Enough.

Will a new bill in Texas stop the shocking number of deaths of pregnant women in the Lone Star State? That’s the hope of both Democratic and Republican supporters of SB 31, also known as the Life of the Mother Act. The bill is headed to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott for signature and there is a strong expectation that he will sign it.

The goal of SB 31, which gathered broad bipartisan support, is to finally respond to the pressure to provide clarity about legal medical exceptions, allowing Texas doctors to perform lifesaving abortions and D&C (dilation and curettage) procedures on pregnant and miscarrying women in need of medical care. Supporters say they believe SB 31 will save the lives of pregnant women—yet many doctors still report uncertainty, and reproductive freedom advocates say the bill does not go far enough to address the loss of bodily autonomy suffered by women in the state.

Blueprint for Nationwide Abortion Pill Crackdown Falters in Texas

In Texas, the state Senate just opened yet another door to women being criminally prosecuted for obtaining an abortion … even in a different state. Authored by Sen. Bryan Hughes, Senate Bill 2880—titled the “Women and Child Protection Act”—just passed in the Senate. It ushers in a currently dormant 1925 abortion ban and would be the first law in the country to allow pregnant women to be prosecuted for receiving abortion care.

“The most egregious point of SB 2880 is that it quietly revives Texas’ pre-Roe abortion ban by explicitly incorporating the 1925 law into the bill’s definition of criminal abortion law,” said Sen. Carol Alvarado, a Houston Democrat.

‘I Thought Only First Pregnancies Could Go Bad’: When Allie Phillips’ Lawmaker Dismissed Her, She Decided to Run for His Seat

“I decided to meet with my district representative in the state legislature,” said Allie Phillips. Her idea was a bill she’d called “Miley’s Law”—named after the child she’d lost—which would create an exception in Tennessee’s abortion ban allowing for the termination of pregnancies when the fetus has a fatal diagnosis. 

She said the meeting with her lawmaker, Republican Rep. Jeff Burkhart, was disturbing. “I quickly learned that these [Republican] lawmakers don’t know anything about reproductive care. He was confused because I had had a healthy first pregnancy, and then lost my second one. He told me, ‘I thought only first pregnancies could go bad.’”

Burkhart, a 63-year-old father, told Allie he’d set up a meeting for her with the state’s attorney general—but never followed through. 

“After that, my mom said, ‘Maybe you should run against him,’” Allie said. “And then my TikTok followers started to say the same thing.”

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race Will Decide the Fate of IVF and Abortion Rights—Just Ask This OB-GYN

The possible return to a near total abortion ban in Wisconsin—which depends on the outcome of the April 1 state Supreme Court election—would gravely interfere with Dr. Anna Igler’s work as an OB-GYN near Green Bay.

“Terrible things happen in pregnancy,” said Anna Igler, an OB-GYN near Green Bay. “All babies aren’t healthy and all pregnancies are not healthy for the baby or the mother. That’s just biology.” 

She knows that firsthand.