A Texan's personal take on legislation shutting down women's health facilities

Veteran investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald has an important and scathing commentary in the new issue of Vanity Fair on the issue of how new state restrictions in Texas and other states on centers providing abortion and other women's health services are likely to affect diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients.

What prompted Eichenwald to write the piece was that his wife, Theresa, a physician, recently was diagnosed with the disease, just a few weeks after discovering a breast lump. Eichenwald contrasts his wife's speedy diagnosis and treatment with the long delays faced by low-income and uninsured women associated with greater likelihood of death. He names and blames anti-abortion lawmakers in his home state of Texas for passing legislation that will shut down a number of centers where low-income and uninsured women receive screening and referrals for breast cancer. He writes:

“Their husbands and loved ones will not have the chance, as I do, to sit in the waiting room of the hospital, and instead will stand at the entryway of the funeral home. Many Republicans, either out of self-delusion or deceit, deny they are causing any such thing. But there is no question that, in their obsession with zygotes, embryos, and nonviable fetuses as part of their supposed pro-life stance, they are effectively murdering real, walking, talking women. …”

Americans have legitimate differences of opinion about abortion. But Eichenwald raises troubling questions about the impact of laws restricting women's health facilities on the medical fate of women who are economically less fortunate than his wife.

Follow Harris Meyer on Twitter: @MHHmeyer