Opinion: A triumph in the fight to safeguard women’s reproductive health in New Hampshire

Dr. Oge Young testifies against HB 476 at the Legislative Office Building in Concord. Oge Young / Courtesy
Published: 02-05-2025 6:00 AM |
Oge Young is a retired OB-GYN who testified against HB 476, a bill which would have banned abortions in New Hampshire after 15 weeks of pregnancy. He practiced in Concord for more than 30 years, was the president of New Hampshire Medical Society and was a member of the general council representing New Hampshire obstetricians.
The prime sponsor of House Bill 476 was met with cheers and some tears of jubilation when she filed to withdraw her bill, a bill that would ban abortion in New Hampshire after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Personally, I wonder if Gov. Kelly Ayotte played a role in this decision. The 12,000 online votes opposing the bill — compared to 900 votes for support — made a clear declaration. Once more, this legislation was not about doing what is best for women. It simply would create an obstacle to the safe health care of women based on ideological differences.
As a third year medical student on my OB/GYN clerkship at St. Paul Ramsey County Hospital in St. Paul, MN, I watched a bright, young woman die of a septic illegal abortion. She was an honor student and captain of her high school basketball team. The experience left an indelible mark on how I felt about the need for legal abortion.
My older OB/GYN partners trained in New York City during the 1950s and cared for many women who died after illegal, unsterile abortions, even following the removal of their infected uterus. Some of these women left orphans at home. My partners saw that making the termination of a pregnancy unlawful did not stop abortions. It just made septic abortions more common.
The World Health Organization estimates that 22 million unsafe abortions are performed annually in countries with limited access to safe abortion, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and millions of disabilities. Unsafe abortion remains a leading cause of maternal mortality. Assessment of these deaths has shown that everyone of them could be prevented by safe abortion.
Following a rotating internship and four years of training, I practiced in Concord for almost four decades. To my knowledge, I never saw another woman with a septic illegal abortion. I was fortunate to practice after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which allowed women to freely seek a safe termination of pregnancy for almost 50 years. I was trained to perform this procedure and was able to provide safe care for my patients when they made this difficult decision. I fear that with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, we could return to an era where illegal septic abortions become common. Abortion is not about politics. Legal abortion is about safe access to health care.
The decision to terminate a pregnancy for a woman is difficult and a deeply personal matter that should only be decided privately between a caregiver and the woman. Lawmakers who know nothing about practicing medicine or caring for women should not be restricting access to safe health care. Legislators who know nothing of a woman’s situation or her life should never have a voice in her medical care, especially when it comes to pregnancy.
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Providing private, safe health care to women gives them control over their bodies and the freedom to make this world a better place.