Naive question (from a pro-choice Californian): Can you say more about how this is related to Dobbs? I read the piece, and everyone agrees it's a funding stream issue, but it doesn't mention abortion, and it seems more about rural healthcare. After all, we have similar problems in CA.
there are structural problems with hospitals but they are much worse in pro-life states because of what they mean for basic medical care and just being an early career doctor, see here www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/u...
Some doctors who handle high-risk pregnancies are fleeing restrictive abortion laws. Idaho has been particularly hard hit.
Because Dobbs allowed punitive laws to become effective where they existed. Those laws in those states control nearly every aspect of obstetrical practice.
Here's a good piece on it from last month that goes more deeply into the abortion connection -
After an Idaho hospital closed its obstetrics department, pregnant women in the county have been left without nearby care. Their OB-GYNs fled the state.
You can also read up on this wrt Idaho, which is farther ahead in this process so there have been more press and interviews. An entire maternity wards' obgyns quit their jobs and moved to other states bc the prospect of being criminalized for their daily work got too high. Hosp couldn't rehire.
It’s definitely several things at once, but the one place could not hire people, and that is directly related to Dobbs. There is no incentive to go to a state that outlaws abortion if you are an ob and you have any options.