OB-GYN practice locations have increased 8.3% where abortion is banned and 10.5% where “abortion is threatened,” according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Christina Francis, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, spoke with EWTN Pro-Life Weekly host Abigail Galván on July 23 about these findings.

“The abortion industry has used this lie — that pro-life laws will cause OB-GYNS to flee states — to fearmonger people into supporting abortion when they otherwise wouldn’t have,” said Francis, a board-certified physician and practicing OB-GYN hospitalist based in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

“We know that 76% to 93% of OB-GYNS don’t actually perform induced abortions. And so … for the vast majority of us, our practices didn’t need to change when states enacted pro-life laws.”

“In fact,” the doctor added, the JAMA study of 60,000 physicians that was released this spring found that “the number of OB-GYNS increased in those states at a higher rate than in states that have very permissive abortion laws.”

“There are a lot of physicians who don’t want to practice in states where abortion is done on a regular basis because of being pressured to participate in abortions,” the physician emphasized.

She also highlighted how pro-life laws are good for pro-life doctors.

“And now what we have are essentially sanctuary states for pro-life physicians like myself, where they can go and practice life-affirming medicine and know that they’re not going to be pressured to perform induced abortion.”

The news segment also clarified that doctors are never prohibited from offering needed pregnancy care.

“Pro-life law in the country allows for doctors like me to intervene immediately when a woman is facing a life-threatening pregnancy complication,” Francis explained.

“Unfortunately, the lies of the abortion industry … and the mainstream media and other abortion allies have made some physicians fearful to intervene in those circumstances.”

This is why it is imperative, she continued, that “physicians need to be provided with accurate information and education.” She went on to explain that this will make sure “that they will not delay necessary care for women, because women’s health care is being so directly impacted by this misinformation that’s out there.

“And that’s actually what led me to produce a medical education video that addresses this exact topic so that physicians can understand and feel confident that they can continue to provide excellent and lifesaving health care to women, no matter where they practice.”

The discussion then turned to the topic of women crossing state lines to access abortion — abortions often paid for by Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion entities.

“We know that women are at a higher risk of suffering complications from either a drug-induced abortion or a surgical abortion. But these risks are heightened when women then are not with the physician who provided that abortion to follow up for complications or when they’re traveling great distances back home,” Francis explained. “In fact, there’s a lawsuit right now against an abortionist in Illinois for performing a botched abortion, nearly killing a woman from my home state of Indiana.”

Following a second-trimester abortion, Francis explained, the woman was sent “immediately back across state lines, back home to Indiana. And she then presented to a hospital here, [which] saved her life.”

Francis underscored that this is not an isolated case. “This is something that we are going to see much more commonly if these groups continue to pay women to travel across state lines. This is purely being done for political reasons and … to push abortion at all costs.

“And it’s being done at the cost of the health of women and, of course, the lives of their preborn children as well.”

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