Blogger Profile: Dr. Jen Gunter
Dr. Jennifer Gunter is a nationally and internationally renowned obstetrician/gynecologist. She is the recipient of numerous research awards and has published extensively in medical journals and authored many book chapters. The Preemie Primer is her first book. Her writing has also appeared in USA Today, the A Cup of Comfort series, KevinMD.com, EmpowHer.com, Exceptional Parent, Parents Press, Sacramento Parent, and the Marin Independent Journal. Dr. Gunter also writes a sexual health column for examiner.com. She has been interviewed by numerous national media outlets and magazines, including CNN.com, More, U.S. News and World Report, Runner’s World, Glamour, Redbook, Woman’s World, and Shape.
Dr. Gunter was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada and graduated from The University of Manitoba School of Medicine in 1990 at the age of 23. In 1995 she completed her OB/GYN training at the University of Western Ontario and moved to the United States to complete a fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Kansas. After completing her fellowship she continued her studies in pain medicine and currently is the only OB/GYN in the United States who is board certified in both OB/GYN and pain medicine. Dr. Gunter is one of the select few physicians in the United States who holds four board certifications.
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
May 16th, 2013
No young person has ever died from Plan B, but 7 will die today from gun violence
If you are not following the Plan B saga, here’s what you need to know: Plan B is one type of morning after pill. It is the hormone levonorgestrel. The brand is Plan B but there are generics as well. It does not cause abortion. It does not affect implantation. ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
April 24th, 2013
Gosnell case not about abortion, it’s about how the desperate and disadvantaged get care
Kermit Gosnell is on trial for providing grossly negligent care to many women culminating in the death of at least one. He is also accused of performing late term abortions past the point of legality. The pictures in the press look like most of his patients (or the economically disadvantaged ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
November 15th, 2012
Did Irish Catholic law or malpractice kill Savita Halappanavar?
This is what is known. Savita Halappanavar was 31 years old and happy to be pregnant with her first child. Then, at 17 weeks, tragedy struck and she was “found to be miscarrying.” Her husband reports that she was in “severe pain” for three days at the hospital and a ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
October 16th, 2012
Romney affirms commitment to fetus, but not heart attack victims
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting an interview with Mitt Romney where he once again voiced his belief that a lack of health insurance is just no big deal: “We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
September 24th, 2012
Mitt Romney channels Ebenezer Scrooge on 60 minutes
Last night on 60 minutes Mitt Romney was questioned about health care. When asked if the government had a responsibility to care for the fifty million Americans who don’t have health insurance he replied, “Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance, people — we– if someone ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
August 27th, 2012
The one horror story that’s missing when Canadians talk about health care
I just spent a week in Canada. Most days were spent enjoying the glory that is a Manitoba summer on the sandy shores of lake Winnipeg, the kids playing in the water and building sandcastles while the parents chatted. As often happens, when people find out that I’m a doctor, ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
August 21st, 2012
Did Todd Akin get his misinformation on rape and pregnancy from Physicians for Life?
By now everyone knows that Congressman Todd Akin (Missouri’s 2nd District) thinks some rapes are legitimate and some are, well, apparently not legitimate. We also know that “what he understands from doctors” is that pregnancy from legitimate rape is “really rare” because women can block unwanted pregnancies through a stress response ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
June 19th, 2012
Why should anti-choice politicians focus on Roe when the states are such easy pickings?
My last post detailed a case in which a young woman with a serious heart condition required a pregnancy termination for medical reasons. She ended up at the State hospital because they offer “free care.” Many of you know that the idea of “free care” at a State hospital is ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
June 16th, 2012
When a politician decides if the life of the mother is at risk
“I have a 20-year-old with what I can only describe as a poorly repaired heart defect and, uh, suboptimal follow-up,” the cardiologist’s voice was rushed. “That’s no good,” I said. “Yeah, well, it gets worse. She had baby two years ago. Went into heart failure around 36 weeks. I’ve got ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
May 29th, 2012
When safe abortion isn’t a choice
If she is brave enough, she will ask around. Someone will know someone who knows someone. Or something. Someone’s grandma might know about the old days. Drinking turpentine or Clorox, which is what the poorest women often did. They also took massive doses of quinine. Equally dangerous and, like the ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
May 3rd, 2012
Messing with reproductive health, Texas style
The Texas Women’s Health Program provides uninsured low income women between the ages of 18 and 44 with Pap smears, STD screening, breast exams, and contraception. Under a rule adopted March 14, 2012 WHP providers must certify they do not “perform or affiliate with an entity that performs or promotes ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
April 19th, 2012
If you believe in universal health care, take this challenge
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has polarized many people (if you are among the minority that don’t believe me, check out the responses on my post Cancer v. The Constitution). While I am the first to admit the law isn’t perfect (for example, lack of accountability from insurers and providers ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
April 9th, 2012
The Medical Caste System of America
I am the mother of three boys, but the parent of two. My three children were born extremely prematurely, but it was just too much for my first son. My surviving boys, Oliver and Victor, weighed 1 lb 11 oz and 1 lb 13 oz respectively. Because being born at ...
Dr. Jen Gunter
OB/GYN
April 4th, 2012
A life without contraception
My mother was raised in poverty of Dickensian proportions. Crowded public housing, never enough money for coal, and always hungry. One sister spent much of her youth in a tuberculosis sanatorium. During the war the major source of income was selling ration coupons on the black market and when my ...