Illinois, surrounded by states that will presumably ban abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision, may become the destination of choice for the majority of American women who from now on cannot interrupt their pregnancy in their places of origin. But it is not the only refugee state, also California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, among others, implement new laws and financing to assist a growing number of patients.
Clinics in Illinois, California and Kansas have been preparing for this contingency for weeks. Meanwhile, the State of New York has approved, in the last legislative session prior to the summer holidays, a package of laws to protect toilets from possible lawsuits by prohibitionist States, exempting them from testifying in criminal or civil cases. in places that restrict the practice. Another measure is the provision of insurance against accusations of malpractice for doctors who treat women from other states.
The Michigan and Massachusetts attorneys general have pledged not to enforce the state or federal bans, should they be approved. Lawmakers in California, where the NGO Planned Parenthood, a leading pregnancy termination service, has more than 100 clinics, have introduced more than a dozen bills to expand access to abortion, including proposals that would better fund clinics, would create a $20 million state-administered fund to help patients with travel expenses, as well as allow some trained nurses to perform an abortion without a doctor’s supervision.
In the case of Illinois, it is estimated that its clinics and hospitals will see between two and five times more women than to date, the largest percentage increase in the country. Planned Parenthood, for example, has opened a logistics center in the south of the state, anticipating the possible avalanche of women. In the State of Kansas, this NGO calculates that the number of women will multiply by four; it has also expanded its network of centers there. In California, the Democratic governor, Gavin Newson, has proposed a fund of 125 million dollars to finance the centers that perform abortions before the possible arrival of women from other states.
But it is not just a matter of opening more centers or providing more staff to the existing ones, but also of training primary care doctors to prescribe the abortion pill, the method used in more than half of the interruptions of pregnancy in the country (a 57% of cases). The NGO Reproductive Health Access Project has noted a “great increase” in requests among health professionals at this level in recent weeks, which could ease the burden on clinics and specialized centers.
The Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group, expects 26 states to ban abortion if it is overturned. Roe contra Wadeleaving women not only without legal abortion options in their places of origin, but also, probably, limiting treatment resources in cases of miscarriage.
The filtering of Judge Samuel Alito’s opinion a month ago, which anticipated the Supreme Court’s decision, and the recent adoption of restrictive laws such as the one in Texas have already provided a test bench of what may be to come. In Illinois, some Planned Parenthood clinics in recent weeks have been experiencing a “massive domino effect” of recent abortion restrictions in Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma and other states.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, the average cost of an abortion in the US is $550, as long as travel or hospitalization costs are not included; Planned Parenthood raises the figure to between $900 and $1,500. Three out of four women who interrupt their pregnancy are low-income, which is why some States demand more funds to be able to care for them, especially when the abortion pill is not an option due to the advanced stage of pregnancy. Women who live in rural areas, for example, represent this casuistry, since they have late access to medical attention since more than half of the rural counties do not offer obstetric services, according to the National Association of Rural Health; Many of those who are forced to travel to another State also rush deadlines extremely. Hospital care costs even more, although only about 4% of women who abort require it because their cases are too complex to be treated in outpatient clinics, where they are discharged within a few hours. It is not the same to safely abort at seven weeks, a generally simple procedure, than to do it at 18, with the consequent risk for the woman, reproductive health groups point out.
All this supposes an additional cost, hence the request of the Member States blues —the color with which the Democrats are identified— of more funds to face the conservative offensive. In Illinois, charities help pay for transportation, lodging and childcare for out-of-state patients, while the city of Chicago has earmarked $500,000 to help pay for those expenses. In New York, State Attorney General Letitia James recently announced legislation to expand funding for clinics to help both low-income residents and those traveling from out of state. This same Friday, the Governor of Massachusetts, Democrat Charlie Baker, has signed an executive order to protect toilets and clinics. Like New York, it prevents the extradition of patients and health workers if they are required for a case initiated in one of the prohibitionist States.
Train nurses and midwives
In California, the governor recently enacted a law that prohibits health insurers from charging copays or any other costs associated with the procedure. Another measure similar to the one approved by New York, to prevent a Californian doctor from being prosecuted by another State for her participation in an abortion, will take effect as soon as Governor Newson signs it. Similar steps have been taken by the Governor of Connecticut, also a Democrat Ned Lamont, to protect health workers and patients from other states and expand the list of health workers capable of legally performing an abortion with nurses, midwives and medical assistants.
In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul, also a Democrat, has allocated an emergency allocation of 35 million dollars, financed by the State Department of Health, to deal with the eventual influx of women from other states. Of the endowment of the fund, ten million will be allocated to the security of sexual and reproductive health centers. On the wing, stuck in the state Senate for months, is a bill that could make abortion funding permanent, through New Yorkers contributing through state taxes.
In some majority states azul, however, the political and legislative obstacles on the part of the Republican opposition represent a brake on aid. This is the case of Oregon, well prepared for the possible arrival of women from Idaho, which already prohibits abortion after the sixth week, but has not yet received a single dollar for a recently created relief fund; Maryland, because of the obstruction of the governor, Republican, and Massachusetts, because the law will not take effect until July.