Director's Corner

Things are Likely to Get More Complex: Once Again, We Need to Navigate Difficult Terrain

By Adina Kalet, MD, MPH and Libby Ellinas, MD, MS

This issue of the Transformational Times is dedicated to the medical education and key clinical implications of anticipated changes to federal access to abortion law. As director of an institute dedicated to the transformation of medical education with character, caring, and competence and the leader of our institution’s Center for Advancing Women in Science and Medicine, we believe that discussion, dialogue, and debate surrounding this complex issue which impacts many members of our community is essential. As a start, we invited a small number of authors to contribute to this issue of the newsletter. We plan to continue these conversations, over the next few months to provide opportunities for our community to engage with this critical issue in the education of health professionals who must serve the needs of the public with wisdom and courage ...   

If the Supreme Court of the United States decides Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as anticipated, it will create a more complex reproductive healthcare landscape that will impact millions of Americans. The immediate and long-term implications of this change are yet unknown. But one thing is certain, if access to abortion is no longer a federally protected right, then the work of health professionals who spend their lives providing reproductive healthcare will be impacted directly in a myriad of predictable and unpredictable ways. There will be unprecedented regional shifts in both medical practice and opportunities for health professions education. And of course, all people of reproductive age may be affected. It behooves us as medical educators to engage with this complex, often contentious, issue and work to remain evidence-based, open-minded, and respectful. This will not be simple or easy, but we believe it is important to begin.  

Perspective/Opinion

What do the Safeguards under Roe v. Wade Mean to a Chair of OB/GYN and an Oncologist?

 By Janet S. Rader, MD

All healthcare providers have benefited from protections offered by the Roe v. Wade 1973 Supreme Court decision. Abortion is not just about unintended pregnancy—it assures evidence-based health care for all patients …

Last month, I logged onto our weekly tumor conference to participate in the treatment planning of women with gynecologic cancers. These conferences are multi-disciplinary, including experts in surgery, chemotherapy, diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, pathology, and genetics. In the conference, we discussed two pregnant women with cancer. One woman with a twin pregnancy—one sac containing a fetus and one sac containing a molar pregnancy, an abnormal growth of cells that normally would be the placenta. The second pregnant woman had cervical cancer requiring chemotherapy and radiation. Discussing these patients, I also realized how our tumor board was free of external influence and open to discussions of science, clinical trials, and the overall best treatment options for our patients.

Perspective/Opinion

Abortion is Healthcare

By Talia Coney, MD

Dr. Coney, a practicing academic OBGYN physician, shares her thoughts on why safe, equitable, and compassionate care for women includes the availably of abortions. The US has the highest maternal mortality among developed nations and Wisconsin’s Black people have some of the worst health care systems outcomes in the nation. Making abortions illegal again will disproportionately put the lives of women—particularly women of color—at increased risk …

I trained at the Medical College of Wisconsin as an OBGYN resident from 2016-2020. I was trained at a residency program that was strong surgically and in obstetrics. My residency program also had an un-wavering commitment to full spectrum OBGYN care. You cannot claim to perform full spectrum OBGYN Care if you do not offer abortion care. Abortion care is essential to the health and well-being of individuals capable of getting pregnant. Access to abortion is a crucial component of reproductive health care. It is an individual’s right to have the ability to choose if, when, and how to give birth.

Perspective/Opinion

The Toll of Abortion Restriction on Learners and Patients

By Laura Grogan, BA. - MD Candidate Class of 2024

Story shared with permission

Nearly one in four women will seek abortion care before they turn 45. As Ms. Grogan anticipates the overturning of Roe v. Wade, she fears for the future of providers, as training becomes more difficult, and for patients like her friend, whose abortion delays impacted well-being far more than the procedure itself…

My Wisconsin friend became pregnant in her twenties after her birth control failed. This all happened during a traumatic time in her life following the unexpected loss of her brother. Her case reflects the experience of most unwanted pregnancies: a woman in her twenties not ready for motherhood.

Perspective/Opinion

What I Have Learned from Families Forced to Make Difficult Prenatal and Pediatric Choices

By Steven R. Leuthner, MD, MA

Dr. Leuthner, who is part of Children’s Wisconsin’s Fetal Concerns and Palliative Care Programs, has spent much of his career helping families through very difficult decisions, some of which involve deciding whether to terminate a pregnancy. He shares some of his experiences in this essay …

As the medical community awaits the SCOTUS decision on Roe vs. Wade, I am only beginning to think about how this may affect the patients and providers I work with in our Fetal Concerns Program and Palliative Care Program at Children’s Wisconsin. In my many years of experience counseling women and families who come to us with significant, sometimes lethal, prenatal diagnoses, I have met families who struggle with profound personal decisions. Many women come with ideological ideas on what they thought they would do, with some sticking to their beliefs and others changing their minds, toward either side of the political spectrum, regarding this topic. I have met with women who were thinking about termination until they heard more about the neonatal outcomes, at which point they continued the pregnancy. Then there are the families who come to us with hope for their baby, and we have to share how we cannot cure everything. This naturally and historically leads to choices to be made.

Take 3

Take 3 with an Abortion Provider

By Kathy A. King, MD



I am a Generalist OBGYN and Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and have worked at MCW since 2001. I have always incorporated the provision of abortion into my practice because I know access to safe legal abortion is integral to the provision of reproductive healthcare. I understand and respect that people have different views on abortion. For 25 years, I have cared for patients referred to Froedtert for abortion services because their own physicians would not or could not terminate their pregnancy. None of these individuals ever planned to have an abortion until medical complications occurred, a devastating fetal diagnosis was made, or life circumstances changed. Being able to provide people with access to high-quality compassionate abortion care has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.  

Take 3

The Difficult Decision

Name withheld by request



During a routine twenty-week ultrasound, a local woman found that her fetus had a significant, very high-risk heart condition that, for any hope of a brief survival, would require multiple surgeries and, possibly, a heart transplant. After many difficult discussions, she and her husband decided that they would proceed with termination of pregnancy. She shares the experience …