A Matched OBGYN, Disneyworld, and Departing Florida

It’s my last day in Florida after graduating medical school, so I stopped by the pin shop at Disney Springs. As a medical student, I always saw obstetrics and gynecology residents wearing lanyards with various pins; now that I had graduated, it was my turn to start creating my collection. 

I bought a baby Mickey pin for my upcoming work in labor and delivery. Mary Poppins as a hat tip to my musical past. A spinning Winnie the Pooh that looks like the silly old bear could be in breech or cephalic position. Lastly, I bought a Mickey pin with the rainbow flag. It will be a gesture to my patients that I am a proud ally in my practice to all. This small message to my patients does not seem miniscule to someone who is departing Florida—and leaving behind a six-week abortion ban and endless attacks on the LGBTQ+ community—for Pennsylvania, where both my patients and I will enjoy greater freedoms.

Attacks on obstetric and gynecologic health care have been a poltergeist looming in the shadows during my years in medical school. Roe v. Wade was overturned on a Friday during my family medicine clerkship. During my pediatrics rotation, a nurse practitioner told me that four out of five patients with heart transplants did not survive pregnancy. During my away rotation, doctors dreaded navigating a legal minefield if a ban were to become law. During my maternal–fetal medicine elective, a woman carrying an anencephalic fetus barely had any time to process her grief in the rush to meet legal criteria for terminating a nonviable pregnancy. At a District ACOG meeting, physicians talked about leaving Florida. At the end of my medical school career, the six-week abortion ban took place.

I shouldn’t be shocked that I chose obstetrics and gynecology. As a theater major, I loved how the stage could be a political voice in real-time art. While residency sounds terrifying, I am proud to have matched into obstetrics and gynecology, and soon I will continue learning the art of medicine in service for my patients who live in a political system which disadvantages them. So I’ll proudly keep collecting new pins for my lanyard. May they convey the sentiment of humanistic compassion, a commitment to evidence-based medicine, and this ex-Floridian’s love of all things Disney, from a new doctor making bold statements to her new community.

After pursuing an opera career as a lyric coloratura soprano, Kristin Drew, MD, graduated from the University of Florida College of Medicine and is a proud first-year postgrad in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at UPMC Harrisburg. Her hobbies include baking Claire Saffitz recipes, music, Pilates, and home design.