When politicians and policymakers dismiss decades of medical research and ignore healthcare experts, they’re not just making poor decisions — they’re putting lives at risk.
As a Black woman and family medicine physician with over 19 years in healthcare, I witness daily how policy decisions directly impact patient lives. The incoming administration’s proposed healthcare changes threaten to worsen existing disparities and create new barriers to care, particularly for our most vulnerable populations.
The healthcare system is already fractured and laced with bias. When we add new layers of restrictions, it disproportionately affects those who are already marginalized, leading to poorer outcomes and higher death rates. The proposed Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative and Project 2025 are particularly concerning. If enacted, these plans would significantly impact public health and equity by restructuring federal agencies like the CDC, rolling back diversity and LGBTQ+ protections, restricting access to reproductive healthcare, and limiting public health mandates that are meant to protect us, like vaccinations.
My father’s generation fought for our country in WWII, serving with honor despite being segregated and treated as second-class citizens. Decades later, we’re fighting eerily similar battles in healthcare. Instead of bullets and bombs, we’re up against something equally dangerous: the deliberate rejection of science and expertise. When politicians and policymakers dismiss decades of medical research and ignore healthcare experts, they’re not just making poor decisions — they’re putting lives at risk.
As doctors, we now have to consider whether we could be jailed for treating a patient with cancer.
Nowhere is this more evident than in reproductive healthcare. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned two years ago, we’ve witnessed a devastating rollback of basic medical rights. Today, more than one-third of American women live in states where they can’t legally access abortion care — even when their lives are in danger. The ripple effects are staggering: Maternity-care deserts are expanding, leaving pregnant women without access to basic prenatal care; maternal death rates continue to climb; and now even IVF and contraceptive access hang in the balance. We’re not just losing reproductive rights — we’re losing mothers, daughters, and sisters to preventable deaths, all because ideology is being prioritized over sound medical science.
These aren’t just stories — they’re real lives. Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old mother, died after being unable to access legal abortion care in Georgia. Nevaeh Crain suffered a miscarriage in Texas, and Josseli Barnica in Texas died days after Texas passed a six-week abortion ban when doctors delayed treatment for her miscarriage. These stories remind me of my own near-death experience giving birth to my daughter. Even with all my privileges as a doctor, delivering in my own hospital, I almost became another statistic. This reality is even harsher for Black women, who are dying at the highest rates: Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to their white counterparts.
As a physician who took an oath to “Do No Harm,” I’m now watching as these policies effectively disarm our sacred commitment. We’re caught between our ethical obligations and legal constraints, potentially leaving vulnerable lives hanging in the balance. Consider this: Because of abortion bans, lifesaving treatments like chemotherapy may be limited for women of childbearing age because they could inadvertently induce an abortion in a pregnancy they don’t even know about yet. As doctors, we now have to consider whether we could be jailed for treating a patient with cancer.
Reproductive health isn’t a separate category — it’s an integral part of overall health. When a person’s reproductive health is compromised, it limits their quality of life. Your health is your most prized possession, and these policies threaten to erode the very foundation of healthcare delivery in our country.
This isn’t just about reorganizing government departments — it’s about potentially dismantling systems that help prevent disease outbreaks, ensure drug safety, and protect our most vulnerable populations.
The silence from the new administration about their healthcare plans is deafening, especially for communities already struggling to access basic care. We’ve seen what works — and what doesn’t. During the 2020 pandemic, despite all the challenges in our healthcare system, we had dedicated teams at the CDC and other federal agencies working tirelessly to protect public health and save lives. These institutions, though imperfect, provided crucial guidance and coordination during one of our nation’s greatest health crises. Now, with threats to dismantle or severely restrict agencies like the FDA and CDC, we risk losing the very infrastructure that helps protect public health. This isn’t just about reorganizing government departments — it’s about potentially dismantling systems that help prevent disease outbreaks, ensure drug safety, and protect our most vulnerable populations. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
As a physician, I’ve seen how both conventional and natural medicine can play important roles in patient care. But what matters most is that patients have the freedom to make informed choices about their own healthcare. Whether it’s deciding to get vaccinated, pursuing cancer treatment, or making reproductive health decisions, you should have autonomy over your own body. These aren’t just medical choices — they’re fundamental human rights. Yet the proposed healthcare changes threaten to strip away these basic freedoms, creating even deeper inequities in our healthcare system. Those with means will find ways to access care, while our most vulnerable communities will face increasingly limited options, widening the already dangerous gap in health outcomes.
