Medical–Legal Partnerships: How Legal Services can Dramatically Improve Health Outcomes, and the Missed Opportunity to Help Women Seeking Abortions

Abstract

There are significant health disparities in the United States, with low-income and minority Americans experiencing higher rates of chronic disease and autoimmune disorders. Research has firmly established that social factors -such as malnutrition, limited access to healthcare, and safe housing -play a critical role in these health disparities. Medical-Legal Partnerships are a relatively new approach to improving the health of people living in poverty by addressing the root causes of these healthharming social factors. This article discusses the benefits of Medical-Legal Partnerships and argues for continued expansion of the model, particularly in pediatricians' offices, because parents are more likely to seek medical care for their children than themselves. This article further discusses how legal constraints prevent federal funding for Medical-Legal Partnerships in abortion clinics; this creates a missed opportunity to work with women who are seeking abortions, many of whom face considerable social and economic challenges that could be addressed through legal assistance. This article digs into the legal restrictions that create this missed opportunity and proposes potential solutions to better serve the vulnerable population of abortion-seeking women. Key Points for the Family Court Community: Social factors create significant health disparities in the United States. Medical-legal partnerships address health disparities by targeting the upstream legal causes of health-harming social factors. Legal constraints prevent federal funding for medical-legal partnerships in abortion clinics, which creates a missed opportunity to work with a vulnerable population of women who often face considerable social and economic challenges. Medical providers and legal aid attorneys should push for the expansion of the medical-legal partnership model. Federal funding restrictions should shift and medical providers should create private funding streams to increase the presence of medical-legal partnerships in abortion clinics.Javana Bradford sat in the waiting room with her newborn baby, Augyst, trying to ignore the pit of hunger in her stomach. 1 "Javana?" She stood and followed the pediatrician into a quiet room. Javana's pediatrician was part of a medical-legal partnership 2 (MLP)-a collaboration between a health care facility and a legal services organization that integrates legal assistance into the health care process. In this model, the pediatrician understood that treating Augyst effectively required a holistic assessment of Augyst's life. The pediatrician thus asked Javana if she envisioned any health complications for herself over the next few months. Javana confided that she was not eating enough because she could not afford sufficient food. 3 The MLP-trained pediatrician both recognized the relevance of this problem for Augyst and also knew that Javana's hunger could have a legal basis. The pediatrician referred Javana to the MLP attorney working with the health care facility. The attorney helped Javana add Augyst to the...

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