Abortion rights are all over the news right now, but beyond the politics, what are the healthcare and legal ramifications? In this special Grand Rounds, we will explore these issues with both medical and legal experts. Radhika Rao is professor of law at the UC Hastings College of the Law and formerly clerked for Justice Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade; Eleanor Bimla Schwarz is professor and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at ZSFG and a former medical consultant to the California Office of Family Planning; and Sanitha Williams, a former UCSF trainee, is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist at the Alabama Women’s Wellness Center. These three experts will analyze the implications of a potential change in the laws governing abortion on reproductive justice, care of the underserved, and public health.

Speakers:
Radhika Rao, JD, professor of Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law, teaches and writes in the areas of constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, property, and the law of the human body. She previously served as supreme court editor of the Harvard Law Review and clerked for Judge Richard Cudahy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Justices Harry Blackmun and Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, MD, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health, is a general internist and health services researcher whose work centers on harm reduction and health promotion. She has a particular interest in identifying ways to better meet the needs of diverse, vulnerable populations, including women with chronic medical conditions and other underserved populations. Previously, she served as medical consultant for the California Department of Health Care Services’ Office of Family Planning, senior medical expert in reproductive health for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a member of the FDA's Advisory Committee on Reproductive Health Drugs.

Sanitha Williams, MD, physician at the Alabama Women's Wellness Center, was a Doris Duke clinical research fellow, during which time she developed her initial interest in quality of life as it relates to reproductive health care and abortion. She was also a family planning fellow at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at UCSF, where she explored how cultural context affects reproductive decision making, with a special focus on black women.

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Program
Bob Wachter: Introduction
00:04:54-00:21:00 – Radhika Rao, JD (professor of Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law)
00:21:30-00:36:35 – Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, MD (professor of medicine and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health)
00:36:58-00:41:40 – Sanitha Williams, MD (physician at the Alabama Women's Wellness Center)
Bob Wachter: Closing

See previous Medical Grand Rounds:

• May 12: Respiratory Health after Military Service in Southwest Asia and Afghanistan:
Insights for Clinicians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG8eWmVTq3c&t=4s
• May 5: Covid-19: Vaccines, Boosters, and Outpatient Therapies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd_eXnyAEmE&t=2s
• April 28: Clinical Problem Solving with Gurpreet Dhaliwal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_lbx9fTJjk
• April 21: From UCSF to Kaiser Permanente: What’s Different About Integrated Health Plan and Delivery System?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcQVhBk2VAw

See all UCSF Covid-19 grand rounds, which have been viewed over 3M times, here: https://medicine.ucsf.edu/covid-19-news-coverage