Group of physicians and health-care professionals join fight to restore reproductive rights, pass Freedom Amendment G
A group of doctors and healthcare professionals has joined the fight to pass Freedom Amendment G.
“We believe medical professionals know best what health-care procedures will keep their patients safe. We believe our patients know best what health-care outcomes are best for them and their families. We believe the government and politicians do not know and can never know better than a woman what is best for a woman whose health and family are at stake, or better than a doctor trying to protect that woman and her family. Those are our beliefs. And they are why we have formed Doctors for Freedom, to work to end South Dakota’s total abortion ban.”
With these words, Amy Kelley, an MD OBGYN from Sioux Falls, and Marvin Buehner, an MD OBGYN from Rapid City, announced the formation of a new organization, Doctors for Freedom, to restore the freedom of doctors and their patients to make personal health care decisions without government interference. It will join Dakotans for Health and the Freedom Amendment Coalition in its fight to end South Dakota’s total abortion ban.
“Doctors, nurses, EMTs, first responders, and health-care professionals of every kind vehemently oppose government interference in their work,” Dr. Kelley said. “Please do not threaten us with jail if we help a woman who was raped and desperately wants an early term abortion. Please do not threaten us with jail if we help a woman for whom an unplanned pregnancy creates extreme medical risk or financial ruin. Do not threaten me with jail for doing my job — which sometimes involves ending pregnancies for medical complications, pregnancy complications or fatal birth defects. Let the women who are our patients, and we who are their doctors, do our jobs.”
“It is not right that in South Dakota today neither doctors nor patients are free,” Dr. Buehner said. “The ‘Right to Life’ politicians in Pierre have made it abundantly clear that they intend to continue ignoring the will of the people, the professional freedom of doctors, and the personal freedom of female patients. The only way to restore reproductive freedom in South Dakota is to protect it in our Constitution and passing Freedom Amendment G is the way to make that happen.”
“It is little wonder,” Dr. Buehner said, “that many colleagues question whether to remain in a place where professional medical judgment is overridden by politicians and their abortion ban and doctors can be jailed because politicians do not like our judgment.”
“We need your help” Dr. Kelley said. “Until we pass Freedom Amendment G, young health-care professionals needed in South Dakota will be lost to states where they are free to practice their profession without government interference and threats of prosecution. Until we pass Amendment G (the image above, from the Dakotans for Health Facebook page, shows some of the petition-gathering effort that put the amendment on the ballot), veteran health-care professionals will keep looking over their shoulders and wondering whether to risk their licenses in a state where they are threatened with jail for doing what they believe is in the best interests of their patients. And until we pass Amendment G, South Dakota women and girls in need will be deprived the full range of professional health care they deserve,” Kelley concluded.
Dr. Kelley and Dr. Buehner ask all health-care professionals — doctors, nurses, and others — willing to join the fight to protect the freedom of health care professionals to do their jobs without political interference to contact them at doctorsforfreedom@dakotans4health.com.
“We encourage all medical professionals who share our concerns about South Dakota’s radical abortion law to join the fight to pass Amendment G,” said Freedom Amendment Coalition Chair Nancy Turbak.
The Freedom Amendment Coalition is a grassroots coalition dedicated to restoring reproductive rights in South Dakota by advocating for Amendment G, which aims to reinstate the protections of Roe v. Wade in the state.
