STAT News author: abortion rights should be argued based on freedoms
David N. Hackney, a professor of reproductive biology, wrote in an opinion column for STAT News that arguments in defense of abortion rights should be based primarily on freedoms rather than statistical indicators.
Expectations after the Dobbs decision
Hackney is a professor of reproductive biology at Case Western Reserve University and head of the maternal-fetal medicine division. He wrote that after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, he expected a decline in the number of abortions, worsening infant mortality and maternal mortality rates, as well as an outflow of doctors from states with strict abortion restrictions.
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According to the author, such assumptions seemed justified at the time, but years of data were needed to verify them. He noted that more than four years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a picture is emerging in which many of the outcomes proved unexpected.
The columnist’s position
Hackney also emphasized that medical theories and forecasts may not come true in the real world because of the complexity of the human body and healthcare systems. In his view, support for abortion rights should not be reduced to whether specific predictions about the consequences of the Dobbs decision have been confirmed.
