Dr. Nisha Verma: I think things will get better. What I often say is I think this is a long game. I think it’s going to be bad for a while, but I do think that things will get better. I do a lot of work as well with ACOG on training clinicians, like how to have more effective, less polarizing conversations about abortion. I think as a microcosm, with my parents when I first went into abortion care and specialized in that, it was really hard for my parents and they were really uncomfortable with it. Like when we would go to Indian gatherings, they’d be like, “Just talk about delivering babies, don’t talk about the abortion stuff.” It was very difficult for them, and it took many conversations over many years, like walks, conversations at dinner. And now, talking about stories and talking about why I do the work, and how the values that they instilled in me contribute to me doing this work, I think that they’ve really shifted. And now they are very proud of the work that I do. They send my testimonies, they send op-eds to friends and family, but it has been a process. And I think that that is where our country is as well.
