What a High-Risk Pregnancy Looks Like After Dobbs
Stephanie Sinclair
New York Times magazine
Immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, individual states were free to regulate access to abortion, and a federal judge granted the state of Ohio authority to ban abortions when fetal cardiac activity could be detected by ultrasound examination. Pregnant women and their doctors felt the implications immediately. Pregnancy can be dangerous, even fatal, for both mother and baby. For obstetricians the ability to terminate a pregnancy is essential. Now the ground has shifted.
The focus on abortion today is often centered on political considerations rather than the practical experience of the people who now have to navigate the new landscape. In August 2022, Stephanie Sinclair was granted access to photograph doctors and patients at the Cleveland Clinic’s maternal-fetal medicine department, one of the largest best respected specialist centers in the United States. Suddenly, after the Supreme Court ruling, most of the termination procedures scheduled one week earlier were then classified as crimes.
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At the clinic, Sinclair encountered women with deeply personal and difficult decisions which had dramatically changed with the ban. She witnessed doctors respecting their professional oath to care for patients, despite legal uncertainties; in some cases they counseled women, explaining where they could find options for termination, and in other cases where they could have their babies.
Sinclair spent two weeks photographing the changed landscape; her photos were featured in The New York Times Magazine in September 2022. The pictures reveal the disarray, uncertainty, and confusion arising from the abrupt change in abortion policy. Much of the media coverage of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling seemed abstract, but for her project, Sinclair set out to show the real-world implications, both vivid and raw. By documenting the experiences of pregnant women at the Cleveland Clinic, just a tiny fraction of the many women who had to manage pregnancies last summer, she opened a window into what is a major moment in history.
For over two decades, Sinclair has documented the plight of vulnerable women and girls around the world. The depth and sensitivity of her work on the global issue of child marriage, including a report in the United States on underage brides in the polygamous communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, focused attention on the issue, and had an impact on policies worldwide.
