I refuse to let the anti-health reform demonstrators represent me or my patients. As an obstetrician/gynecologist, I can say unequivocally that our country needs health care reform now, and this reform must provide comprehensive reproductive health care to all.  

I am going to Nancy Pelosi's office to say so, with a petition in hand signed by hundreds of other physicians, medical students, and people concerned about reproductive health. Please add your name. Show Congress that you stand for a changed health care system that takes care of women and families.  

As I plan my visit to my Congresswoman, doctors and medical students in other states are also scheduling appointments at their representatives and senators' district offices. They, too, will bring the petition, showing legislators that we stand together in support of health reform and reproductive health care.  

During my visit, I hope to talk with the Speaker and her staff about my patients. I see women who can't pay for the most basic health services-including Pap smears, birth control prescriptions, STD testing and treatment, abortion, and prenatal care. I see women get sick because they have not had this medical attention - going without reproductive health care can affect a woman's health for her entire life. Their illnesses prevent them from caring for their families and holding down their jobs.  

Just this week I saw Tara, a 27-year-old mother of two who was pregnant again after giving birth in January. Tara's first child is 3, and he has hydrocephalus, an excess of fluid on the brain. He needs frequent medical attention to avoid brain damage. After her second child was born, Tara went on the pill to make sure that she wouldn't get pregnant again. But a few months ago she was laid off and lost her health insurance. She could no longer afford her birth control pills. Now because of a broken condom, she will add a third child to a young family already under tremendous emotional and financial strain. Any plan for health reform must guarantee comprehensive reproductive health care so that women like Tara can have children when they are ready, not when circumstances force them to. 

I became a physician because I wanted to heal. How can I keep women well when they can lose their health insurance at a moment's notice? What can I do when patients need reproductive health care but their insurance plans omit or pay too little for fundamental services? How can I help the many women whose jobs don't offer insurance at all?  

According to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund, 52% of women in the United States did not have the money to visit a doctor about a medical problem, fill a necessary prescription, or receive follow-up care. This is our nation's status quo, a system that routinely prices women out of health care. Indeed, some insurance companies charge women as much as 45% more than men for individual policies just because they are female. 

I want to help everyone stay healthy, not just those fortunate enough to have insurance plans that meet their medical and financial needs. With health care reform, Congress has a chance to help all women and their families. If women could depend on a set of affordable reproductive health care benefits, no matter what insurance plan they have, they would stay healthier longer, strengthening their families, workplaces, and society at large.  

I am going to Representative Pelosi's office because it is time for Congress to treat reproductive health as a serious medical concern instead of a political football. I encourage you to join me. Please consider bringing the petition to your senator or representative so that we reach as many members of Congress as possible during the August recess. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, the group behind the petition and of which I am a board member, will help you arrange your visit, send you the petition with the names to date, and provide you with talking points about health reform and reproductive health. You will see more details about delivering the petition once you sign it.