In Iowa, An Attack on Telemedicine Threatens Reproductive Rights

Innovative, cost-saving methods for medicine dispersal should be applauded, not eliminated. But in Iowa, a novel telemedicine program that allows women access to the abortion pill without having to go to a clinic for the drug to be dispensed is under attack.  As covered previously on Change.org, the program helps women, particularly in rural areas, access the pill. Instead of an in-person meeting, the doctor consults with the patient via a video teleconference, and then unlocks a container by remote control to release the pill. It saves time, increases access and reduces costs.

But as covered on the Women's Rights blog, Iowa state legislators are working to ban the practice, and Nebraska, which doesn't even offer the service yet, is planning to introduce a bill that would require doctors to be in the same room when the pills are dispensed.

This would serve to restrict access to the abortion pill for women in areas where there may not be a doctor willing to provide a surgery. Although the pill, marketed as Miseprex, hasn't increased the number of abortions in the U.S., more and more women are chosing medication abortions when they do have them. But even though use of the pill has become widespread, it has not susbstantially improved women's geographic access to abortion -- most medication abortions are provided at or near facilities that already offer surgical abortions. The telemedicine option would help to solve that.

But anti-choice advocates have already asked the Iowa Board of Medicine to prevent Planned Parenthood of the Heartland from continuing the program. Because a patient doesn't have to meet face-to-face with a doctor, they claim it could endanger a women's health. But in reality, it does no such thing. Women seeking the telemedicine option still have to go into one of Planned Parenthood's clinics, have an ultrasound and see a nurse.

Requiring a doctor to be in the room to dispense medication doesn't serve any medical purpose, but it does increase health care costs by requiring unnecessary appointments and increasing barriers to timely care.  It's a prime example of legislation standing between a patient and their medical decision making.

You can tell Iowa not to give up on the novel method of drug-dispensary by signing this petition calling on Iowa legislators to stand behind the program.

Photo credit: e-MagineArt.com