Doctors May End Pregnant Cancer Patient's Treatment for Fear it Could Count as Abortion

The Supreme Court Decision to overturn Roe v. Wade may also impact pregnant cancer patients. Although some cancer treatments do not pose risks to pregnancy, other treatments like radiation therapy and chemotherapy affect the fetus and raise the risk of miscarriage.

Experts say that more restrictive laws could make doctors reluctant to provide treatment even when patients need it to survive for fear of being charged with performing an illegal abortion.

 Dr. Stephanie Blank, president of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, said the ruling calls into question giving treatment that may cause termination of pregnancy even if it is intended to treat cancer.

At the risk of unlawfully helping to terminate a pregnancy

Katie Keith, director of the Health Policy and the Law Initiative at the O'Neill Institute, told Business Insider that providers fear that by providing cancer care, they are at risk of unlawfully helping to terminate a pregnancy.

She added that physicians are placed in an impossible situation and are not going to provide the care for fear of paying a fine, losing their medical license, or spending years in jail.

Dr. Karen Knudsen, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society, clarified that many cancer treatments would not affect pregnancy. Surgery to remove tumors, for example, does not pose a risk to the pregnancy. However, chemotherapy and radiation therapy can affect the fetus and poses the risk of miscarriage.

Blank added that some cancers like cervical cancer or gestational trophoblastic disease are impossible to treat without terminating a pregnancy.

Knudsen cited a case in the Dominican Republic and said it could also happen in the U.S.

Rosaura Almonte, 16, was diagnosed with leukemia. As she was seven weeks pregnant, the courts denied her treatment for 20 days while they decided if it was legal. Almonte died shortly after. Her mother, Rosa Hernandez, said that when the doctors denied her treatment, it was about "saving two lives," per Ms. Magazine.

Knudsen said that had the girl been given the treatment immediately, she would have a higher chance of survival. Although Knudsen noted that she is not taking a side on the ruling, she is concerned about its impact on cancer patients.

Read Also: How the Roe versus Wade Reversal May Impact Girls with ADHD

Abortion restriction's implications for cancer patients

Recently, the Women's Med Center in Dayton, Ohio, had to refuse a cancer patient seeking an abortion before her chemotherapy. According to Val Haskell, the center's manager, the woman did not expect to get pregnant when she discovered her pregnancy in June. She was in the middle of her cancer treatment.

The woman's doctors, Haskell said, immediately ended her treatment and medication. She was past the six-week Ohio threshold when the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision. The ruling left the woman with no access to abortion within the state. She crossed state lines in Indiana for the termination of the pregnancy.

As per Cancer Letter, about 6,400 American women are diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy each year. The abortion restrictions will have immediate implications for these cancer patients.

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