The view from one of the last abortion clinics in Louisiana

He’s provided abortions for nearly 40 years. Now, the man known in court documents as “Dr. John Doe 1” – or “Doe” for short – is ready to retire and wondering whether anyone will be around to take his place. There are one or two local physicians who might be willing to hack it – to risk judgment from their peers and neighbors, face hostility from antiabortion extremists, and conceal their identities from the public, as Doe has done for most of his career.

But at some point, likely late this year, he plans to hang up his scrubs for good.

“We’re going to kind of face the point where [I have to] say, ‘Look, if none of the other OB-GYNs in this state are willing to come up and step up to the plate, then too bad,’” he says one April afternoon after his shift at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he’s performed abortions since 1981. “I’ve done as much as I can do, you know?”

Providers have for decades been a key target of anti-abortion activists; an entire category of abortion regulations is aimed at chipping away at their ability, and by extension their desire, to offer abortion care.

Now, as activists on both sides prepare for the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, that long-term strategy is paying off. When not facing the threat of public

‘How terribly naive I was’Demand outweighing supplyLearning on a papaya