Testimony of Catherine Romanos, MD
In opposition to Senate Bill 127
Submitted to Senate Committee on Health and Human Services
.........
June 24, 2015
I am a family physician who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. I completed a
Bachelor of Arts in Spanish literature at New York University (I am fluent in Spanish),
received my medical degree from the University of Connecticut, and completed a
residency in family medicine with an emphasis on social justice and caring for
underserved Spanish-speaking patients at the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency
Program in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I am board certified in family medicine.
As a physician, I vehemently oppose Senate Bill 127 (SB 127). Medically, it is
based on false scientific data. Ethically, it lacks any compassion for women and their
families. This bill represents extreme government interference into medicine and would
greatly undermine the health of Ohio women and their families. If passed, SB 127 would
ban abortion at 20 weeks after fertilization. This ban, would disproportionately affect
women who find themselves in difficult circumstances. Only 1.4% of all abortions occur
after 19 weeks after fertilization and many are provided to women with desired
pregnancies who find out late in the second trimester that the fetus that they already love
is gravely ill. When a woman learns that she is pregnant with a child that will die in utero
or shortly after delivery, the decision falls on her to choose the best course of action for
herself and for her family.
I would like to share Tori's* story with you. Tori and her husband planned their
pregnancy carefully to come during a period in her graduate studies that would allow her
to take the most maternity leave possible. They were thrilled when they learned they
were pregnant and that their plan to time the pregnancy just right had been successful. At
20 weeks, during a routine ultrasound, they were devastated by the news that the fetus
carried a rare disorder that would result either in death of the infant shortly after delivery
or a shortened lifespan wrought with profound disability. Their situation was now out of
their control, save one last decision that no parent ever wants to have to make. Their
decision was agonizing: end the pregnancy after 20 weeks or watch their child die or
suffer. Is this a decision the legislature should be making for Tori? Or is this one that she
should be making with her family, with the advice of her doctor?
What would you have me tell women like Tori if SB 127 becomes law? How am I
to explain to a patient that despite her thoughtful decision, her state representatives would
make it impossible for any Ohio physician to help her end her pregnancy the best way she
sees fit? SB 127 would undermine the patient-physician relationship tremendously and
would require Ohio physicians to send women in need of these abortions out of state at
what is often one of the most difficult and emotional times of their lives.
However we may feel about later abortion, we can all agree that a woman’s
health, not politics, should drive important medical decisions. If SB 127 becomes law,
only women who can afford to go out of state will be able to safely obtain an abortion
after 20 weeks – potentially creating a pre-Roe setting for Ohio’s poorest and most
vulnerable women. It is critical to the lives and health of women in Ohio that you vote
against SB 127.
* Patient names have been changed to protect confidentiality.