Dear Stanford Medicine Community,
Soon after the Supreme Court’s decision, we shared a message to our University community. Given our mission in health and medicine, we want to provide our additional perspective on this historic ruling.
First and foremost, we strongly believe that reproductive care, including safe abortion access, is essential health care. Limiting it negatively impacts the health of women and all who seek reproductive services in profound and immeasurable ways. Stanford Medicine will continue to provide comprehensive reproductive health care services to the fullest extent of California law.
Further, at Stanford Medicine, we recognize patient autonomy – the right to self-determination – as a fundamental patient safety issue. The overturning of Roe v. Wade will impair our nation’s public health. Millions have already been stripped of their choice to access vital care, and the repercussions will only be amplified for our nation’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
Equally consequential is the potential compromise of the important patient-physician relationship that guides critical health decisions. In many states, a physician’s expert medical judgment on what is in the patient’s best interest, based on clinical evidence and a patient’s wishes, will no longer stand.
Please know we are committed to using the full weight of our institution, in collaboration with others across the state, to secure and strengthen the science-backed policies that govern California.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Minor, MD
Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
David Entwistle
President and CEO, Stanford Health Care
Paul King
President and CEO, Stanford Children’s Health
