Speaker: Katie L. Watson, J.D., Professor of Medical Education, Medical Social Sciences, and Obstetrics and Gynecology and Faculty of the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Graduate Program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Abstract: In states that have criminalized abortion provision, much of the healthcare conversation has focused on what care is, and is not, legal. This lecture will begin with a short update on the legal landscape for obstetric care in the U.S. and Texas, then it will shift focus to an ethical analysis of the unique combination of patient need plus legal uncertainty and risk clinicians now confront. What are the ethical obligations of institutions and individual clinicians caring for pregnant patients in restrictive states, and have any new opportunities for ethical care arisen since these laws were first enacted?