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06/29/2022

MSHO Issues Position Statement on Maternal Health

MSHO Position Statement on Maternal Health:

The Michigan Society of Hematology and Oncology (MSHO) represents over 94% of the medical oncology, hematology, and radiation oncology specialists in Michigan, treating cancer patients across all settings of care. It is the mission of our Society to promote exemplary care for patients with cancer and blood disorders through advocacy, education, and research.

MSHO has long recognized the complex interplay between cancer and both benign and malignant hematologic disorders, and maternal health. These disorders frequently put pregnant women at risk for severe, even fatal, health complications.

The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization rendered on June 24, 2022, to reverse the federal protection of the right to terminate a pregnancy has the potential to put physicians and the patients we serve in an untenable position.

Although a 1931 Michigan law that prohibits abortion under nearly every circumstance would become the default law in the absence of Roe vs. Wade, it has been temporarily suspended by the courts. Should it go back into full effect or be otherwise enforced it could have harmful, wide-reaching impacts on the sanctity of the physician patient relationship, health care equity, and long-established basic maternal rights.

Cancers and hematologic conditions can and do often pose life threatening situations in which the choice to terminate a pregnancy is a crucial clinical consideration that patients and their physicians need to be free to make without legal or criminal repercussions. We support the efforts of our state and national medical societies to educate lawmakers on the highly nuanced and complex nature of this issue and help inform policy decisions that preserve the right to full reproductive and maternal health care services for the patients we serve.

 

 

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