Rutgers’ Erica Goldblatt Hyatt, a scholar researching the effects of terminating a wanted pregnancy on women and families, is available to discuss the leaked Supreme Court draft decision on Roe v. Wade. Goldblatt Hyatt is one of few specialists working with women and families who have experienced the choice of ending a pregnancy due to fetal anomaly.
“The surprising but not unexpected plan for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade will have devastating consequences,” said Goldblatt Hyatt. “Historically, abortion restrictions pose insurmountable barriers for those with fewer resources. Research indicates that people of color, disability, and queer status already have trouble accessing timely abortion care. Most abortion seekers live below the Federal Poverty Level and cannot use Medicaid to pay for care. Now add to this the cost of leaving your home state--traveling for an abortion, paying cash upfront, arranging for lodging, food, and childcare--since many abortion seekers are parents already.”
Goldblatt Hyatt noted, “Let us not forget about the later abortion community, whose fetuses are diagnosed with devastating anomalies after 20 weeks of gestation, and the impact of a world without Roe. These parents would be forced to carry affected pregnancies to term, forced to labor and deliver, forced to parent babies with potentially life-limiting illnesses who may never see the outside of a neonatal intensive care unit.”
Goldblatt Hyatt has a dual appointment between the Rutgers School of Social Work and the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. In her role at the RWJ Medical School, she provides advanced-level education for physicians about the human experience of grief, pregnancy loss, and bioethics. At the center of her public advocacy and social justice endeavors, Goldblatt Hyatt is an advocate for women's reproductive rights and has been featured in media campaigns by Planned Parenthood.
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