COMING OUT AS A DOCTOR WHO PROVIDES ABORTION

Is abortion a morally right practice? If someone is doing abortion, are they doing a
crime? Is the person performing abortion a criminal? these are some questions which
are very relevant in today’s day and age. The issue of abortion has been highlighted
recently due the protests in US and abortion laws across the World. There is no
definite answer to these questions, the correctness of the answer is decided by the
situation and the patient involved and what their choice is. In many places though,
abortion is considered a taboo, its presumed to be an act no less than murder, but even
in such communities there are times when an individual wants to abort a foetus, due to
their personal reasons and with consent, but they are unable to do so due to the social
pressure and their family pressure. In such communities, due to their firm belief that
abortion is no less than murder, the courage of a medical practitioner who is capable
of practicing abortion is supressed even though they know that under circumstances
abortion is justified. But the pressure of society is so much that it instils fear in their
minds, they are pushed back, and if they do practice, they are pushed into a closet,
forced to hide their identity.
Doctor Katie McHugh is one of the many individuals, who provided abortions,
secretly, without letting anyone know, not even her family. Doctor Katie McHugh
resides and practices in Indianapolis. She had been secretly helping out individuals
who wanted abortion, for seven years, until this January when she decided to gather
20 guests at her home and come out to them. She had invited the guest for Planned
parenthood fundraiser party, among whom were her father and two sisters. Now
before we look into how the events unfolded and how the guest reacted let us first
understand the community in which she lived, and a bit of a history of her journey
before she decides to come out and the reasons that provoked her to come out. She
belonged to a community which considered abortion to be severe wrong and helping
out in carrying out an abortion as no less than murder. One can tell how extremely the
idea of abortion was despised in the community, when Dr Katie McHugh in her
interview with the Guardian, states her worries before coming out, she states “I knew
it would cause angst in my community and potentially increase risk to my family”.
The nervousness and the fear of being excluded was not just limited to society though,
she was also anxious what her family and relatives would think of her, she say’s “I
worried that certain relatives would be ashamed of me”. Before she came out to the
guests gathered for the Planned Parenthood fundraisers’, only selective people, which
included her husband and few close friends knew about her part-time work as an
abortion provider of nine abortion clinics in Indiana. Dr Katie McHugh had received
hate mails from anti-choicers since April 2016, when she published an op-ed in the
Washington post arguing about the new legislative restrictions on abortion in Indiana,
in which she mentioned herself as op-ed as an obstetrician-gynaecologist, and not as a
provider of abortion. This caused large outburst of haters as she faced tremendous hate
on social media platforms and even personal letters to her office stating “abortion is
murder” and also received rape threats or murder threats. This all felt like nightmare
to her, this harassment and constant mental torture she endured just because she
advocated for reproductive rights made her even more sure that it was best people
assumed that she just liked to talk about abortion but didn’t provide it herself,
therefore further hiding her secret deeper in her closet from the world. This
harassment reached its pinnacle and she hit her limit when she started to get excluded
and shut away by her own close one’s when she posted about reproductive rights on
her Facebook group, earning her bans from her conservative acquaintances and
remarks such as that she didn’t deserve to be doctor and should stop practising for
good. This deeply upset her and hurt her personally, this is evident when she tells us
her response to this attack, “It was the only response I’ve gotten that really upset me,
I’ve got constant hate mail from my local peers since then.” This however didn’t burn
down her courage or break her confidence, but in contrast ignited her spirits even
more, this incident was the spark, the little spark that she needed to burn down the
closet she had shut her identity in, the spark that led her to come out, which finally
made her think, ‘This is ridiculous.’ I’m playing into this game by being quiet and
secretive. It makes me feel like I’m ashamed of this work, which I’m not – I’m
actually so deeply proud of it.”. Dr Katie McHugh finally gathered the courage and
decided to come out.
The flame that had been ignited finally spill out as she came out in January, the
reaction she got took her by surprise, the moment she came out, the moment she
revealed the secret she had kept closed in her heart for more than 7 years was let out,
as she said “Welcome. I’m glad you’re all here. I’m Katie McHugh. I’m an OB-GYN
here in Indianapolis, and I’m also an abortion provider”, as these words came out of
her mouth, her father visibly flinched and she stopped to take a breath as everyone
applauded, including her family. Her father also gave her a big hug, as he told her how
much he was proud of her, but also worried about her. In my opinion his worries were
justified as we have seen the horrific treatment Doctor Katie McHugh faced even
though all she had done was just support reproductive rights. I strongly believe that Dr
McHugh is works for benefit of people, it does not matter if ‘you’ or ‘I’ think abortion
is wrong, since if the foetus is born, we will not be taking its responsibility, but it will
be the individuals or parents of the foetus, and it’s their choice if they want to keep the
foetus and if they don’t want or can’t, the people suffering or going through stress will
be the family and not us. I think Dr McHugh is working for greater good by helping
them out in abortion, as by so she is reliving the individuals from a huge responsibility
which would have been liability for them otherwise but also in a way making sure that
a child does not have to go through bad childhood just because his/her/their parents
were not in a stable state, during his/her/their childhood/birth.

It takes a lot of courage and mental strength to do what Dr McHugh is doing, and even
though she faced such adverse conditions she held strong and kept moving forward,
even if meant she had to hide her identity from her own family, just so that they
wouldn’t have to face backlash from the society, even if it meant she would have to
live in the constant fear of being found out and knowing that there would be dire
consequences if she was found out. She stood firm on her principle and kept
supporting and spreading awareness for reproductive rights, helping masses through
social media while facing heavy backlash that tried to oppress her and supress her
voice, she kept up her journey and finally she came out to the world proud and not a
bit ashamed of her identity, her identity as a doctor who provides abortion. Since
coming out to friends and family, she has started talking about her work “all the time”.
I deeply respect Doctor Katie McHugh for her bravery, courage, self confidence and
the dedication she showed towards her profession and didn’t feel guilty, I applaud her
for it, and we all should take inspiration from her and come out of our respective
closets and be proud of our identity, come out with burning flame in our heart, that
will burn the false shame we are covered in by the society, and just take pride in our
identity, and embrace our identity.

REFERENCE
Tired of hiding: five doctors who provide abortions come out | Abortion | The Guardian