Dr. Crouch’s Story
Dr. Robbie Crouch grew up in eastern Idaho watching his father work as an obstetrician. He saw firsthand what it meant to care for families—being called away from dinners and school events to deliver babies, and returning home fulfilled by the work.
That experience shaped his path, inspiring him to train in family medicine and obstetrics.
“It’s a meaningful part of people’s lives,” he says. “You get to help bring families into the world.”
“The stress of trying to do the right thing for your patient while also worrying about legal consequences made it harder to continue.”
In 2022, Idaho’s abortion laws changed. A trigger law went into effect, limiting when physicians could provide abortion care. For Dr. Crouch and others, the shift was immediate.
“When the laws went into effect, it created confusion and uncertainty about how to take care of patients,” he says.
Pregnancy care often includes situations where something goes wrong—when a pregnancy is no longer viable, or when continuing it could harm the patient’s health. In those moments, decisions are time-sensitive and rarely straightforward. Under the new laws, physicians were left trying to determine when they could act.
At the same time, the legal risk changed how care was delivered. Physicians could face investigation or legal consequences for providing certain treatments, even in complex medical situations. That uncertainty extended beyond individual cases. Some specialists left the state, and access to care became more limited—especially in rural communities where providers are already scarce.
Over time, those pressures shaped his own decision-making. Dr. Crouch no longer practices obstetrics.
“There were a lot of reasons,” he says. “But the stress of trying to do the right thing for your patient while also worrying about legal consequences made it harder to continue.”
He still sees the effects in his work today. Patients travel farther for care. Clinics work to recruit physicians into communities where positions remain unfilled. For Dr. Crouch, the work of caring for patients hasn’t changed—but the environment around it has.
“These are complex, deeply personal decisions,” he says. “And they’re not taken lightly.”
