Doctors at Ossoff Decatur hearing say Georgia’s six-week abortion ban endangers patients

Georgia native Dr. Aisvarya Panakam says she was eager to return home to finish her medical training after spending about a decade away from her home state. 

But then came the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022 that overturned federal abortion protections, upending the nation’s health care landscape and her own plans. 

A month after the seismic ruling, Georgia’s 2019 abortion law took effect, banning most abortions after about six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

Panakam, who is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, said when it came time to apply for residency programs, she prioritized opportunities that offered training in the full spectrum of reproductive care, including abortion and miscarriage management. 

She said it was a “bitter day” when the Cumming native said she realized she was not going to find that in Georgia. Panakam is doing her medical residency at a medical center in Pennsylvania.

“Personally, I feel very guilty for not coming back. This is my community, and I always wanted to come back, and I feel like I failed a lot of people as a result,” Panakam said. “I hope to come back one day, but I think that it’s difficult without changes to existing laws here.”

Panakam shared her perspective as a young medical doctor at a field hearing held Tuesday at Decatur City Hall. The hearing was convened by Georgia U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on human rights and is part of a series of meetings Ossoff said he plans to hold to examine the impact of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban.

“It is vital that the public hear directly from physicians and medical experts how Georgia’s extreme abortion ban puts women’s health and lives at risk,” Ossoff told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing. “And I intend to continue to convene proceedings that inform the public about how the decisions politicians have made put their health at risk.”

Georgia’s law has now been in effect for two years this month. The state Supreme Court upheld the law last year based on a narrow issue, but the question of whether the law violates the state Constitution is still pending in Fulton County Superior Court.

Tuesday’s hearing focused on the impact of the six-week ban and the “medical emergency” exception, which is one of a few allowed under Georgia’s law.

Under state law, a medical emergency is defined as “a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”

The procedure would also be allowed when a fetus is deemed “medically futile.”

But practicing Georgia physicians said the wording is unclear, tying the hands of doctors and threatening the health of patients with high-risk pregnancies in a state already wrestling with higher rates of maternal deaths. 

“Oftentimes by the time you hit ‘irreversible’ and ‘futile,’ mom’s life is already at significant risk,” said Dr. Suchitra Chandrasakeran, a maternal fetal medicine specialist who provides care for high-risk pregnancies. “You’ve taken away her choice and capacity to make a decision to potentially avoid hitting ‘irreversible’ and ‘futile.’”

This ultimately means physicians are waiting until a patient’s condition worsens, or they are being referred elsewhere for care. The doctors who testified Tuesday shared harrowing stories of near-misses that they attributed to the state’s restrictive abortion law. 

“There’s not a line in the sand where someone goes from totally fine to acutely dying. A lot of time it is a continuum, and doctors, because of this law in Georgia, are forced to question when can I intervene? How sick is sick enough? How much bleeding is too much bleeding?” said Dr. Nisha Verma, an OB-GYN practicing in Georgia.

“That delays care. That forces patients to get sicker,” she said. 

Chandrasakeran argued that it may take time for Georgia’s health care landscape to feel the full effect of the six-week abortion ban. Young doctors like Panakam are making choices now that could have a long-term impact.  

“I think the hard part about this is you may not see that effect two years, three years, five years,” Chandrasakeran said. “But then comes that pipeline: who is coming behind us? Who can we bring, who can we train, how do we build up? That impact may not be seen tomorrow or in a year, but in five to 10 years, I think this is going to be a huge impact for a state that is already struggling.”

Decatur Mayor Patti Garrett said she views the council chamber as a good setting for tough and important conversations like this one.

“If we don’t have doctors properly trained or doctors even in prenatal care, OB care wanting to practice in the state of Georgia, what is that telling us about how we value human life and women in the state of Georgia?” Garrett said afterwards. 

This story was originally published by the Georgia Recorder