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Reproductive Rights Deep Dives
Navigating Care Under Abortion Bans: Dr. Caitlin Bernard on My Body. My Pod. Episode 9 (with AIA)
What it means to provide care—and turn patients away—under abortion bans.
Content Warning: This webpage discusses accounts of people losing their lives because of abortion bans.
Watch & Listen
In collaboration with Abortion in America, our latest episode of My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju features Dr. Caitlin Bernard, an OB/GYN and abortion provider who has witnessed firsthand how abortion bans are harming patients.
Dr. Bernard was thrust into the national spotlight in 2022 after providing abortion care to a young survivor of rape—an experience that underscored both the risks providers face and the consequences of politicizing medical care.
Despite these challenges, she finds hope in the courage of patients and storytellers who are turning lived experience into momentum for change.
🤿 Dive Deeper: The Reality of Harms Caused by Abortion Bans
“I can’t take care of you here. Your condition isn’t severe enough. There’s not a high enough chance that you’ll die.”
During her medical training, Dr. Caitlin Bernard never imagined a future where abortion care would be illegal. After Roe fell, she made a deliberate choice to serve patients in communities with restrictive bans.
Shaped by mentors, resilient provider communities, and the power of storytelling, Dr. Bernard describes what it means to practice medicine under laws that override medical judgment.
Abortion bans don’t eliminate the need for care—they change how and where patients are forced to get it.
Instead of providing treatment, providers are now pushed into crisis logistics:
- Creating care plans to accommodate out-of-state travel
- Witnessing added burdens that patients navigate to access the medical care they need: childcare, time off work, and long-distance travel
- Supporting patients through fear, anxiety, and lasting trauma after being denied care
One of the most devastating moments, Dr. Bernard says, is being forced to tell someone they aren’t “sick enough yet” to be treated—even when care is clearly needed or wanted.
Across the U.S. families are navigating dangerous laws that put political extremism over health. The results: trauma, and preventable deaths. Read real stories of harm.
🔑 Key Take Aways: Abortion stories can shift hearts—and laws.
“Pregnancy complications, need for abortion, having an abortion—that’s all the same.”
Dr. Bernard’s story makes one truth unmistakable: abortion bans don’t change the reality that abortion is health care.
Abortion bans only determine who gets care—and who is forced to wait, travel, or suffer, depending on where they live.
And still, Dr. Bernard reminds us where hope lives: in providers who refuse to abandon their patients, and in communities and storytellers who refuse to give up.
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ABOUT THE PODCAST
MY BODY. MY POD. WITH MINI TIMMARAJU.
The fight for reproductive freedom is more urgent than ever.
That’s why we’re bringing you My Body. My Pod. with Mini Timmaraju, a reproductive freedom podcast.
If you’re into building a nationwide movement to protect and expand health justice, reproductive equity, and the power of people to control their own lives, this show is for you.
Hear from leaders and changemakers who share wisdom from the front lines, stories of the real struggles people are facing every day, and a vision for the future we’re determined to win.
Hosted by Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All. Available on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
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Watch More Episodes
Deep Dives Reproductive Rights
Navigating Care Under Abortion Bans: Dr. Caitlin Bernard on My Body. My Pod. Episode 9 (with AIA)
Deep Dives What's New at Repro for All
Stacey Abrams on 10 Steps to Fight Trump’s Power Grab and Build the World We Want: My Body. My Pod. Episode 8
Deep Dives Reproductive Rights