Opinion: New abortion restrictions pose a serious threat to fetal surgery

The concept of fetal surgery captures the imagination when, from time to time, it makes the headlines. Few pregnant mothers will need the assistance of fetal medicine specialists; fewer still will need a fetal surgeon to save their children. But it can offer parents-to-be a sense of hope: In the appropriate circumstances, doctors may be able to help before the child is even born. Now, anti-abortion laws intended to protect the unborn may do the exact opposite by threatening this already-challenging field.

Operating in utero supposes a willingness, on the part of the mother and the medical team, to do everything possible to help an unborn child. One would think, therefore, that fetal doctors and opponents of abortion are aligned. While the ultimate goal may be the same, however, fetal surgery cannot happen without maternal autonomy: It means that a pregnant woman, of her own free will, places her life in the hands of the surgical team. As fetal and pediatric surgeons, we are ever aware of our responsibility to offer all possible options, in a nondirective way and based on sound medical evidence. Challenging a mother’s reproductive freedom, as the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling has done, betrays the trust between patients and their health care providers.

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