Abortion clinics are already preparing to relocate people and resources from the red states, pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Rowe v. Wade.
The other side: The Blue States – including California, Oregon, Minnesota, Maryland and Massachusetts – are taking steps to prepare for a potential influx of patients seeking abortion care if Rowe falls.
Many abortion providers “plan to relocate or travel to places where they can continue to care for patients,” said Alhambra Frery, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Pennsylvania and an associate with Reproductive Health Doctors.
- That means there is likely to be a “saturation” of abortion providers in urban areas, especially in the blue states, said Iman Alsaddon, medical director of the Planned Parenthood of Great Plains, which covers Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
“We’ve been preparing for this decision for a long time,” said Sarah Traxler, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS), which covers Iowa Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. She is also a provider of abortion in St. Paul.
- “We know there are certain places in the country where we need to provide access and make sure we have room for patients coming from everywhere.”
- She expects to see a 10% to 25% increase in demand for services in Minnesota, where access to abortion has been protected by a 1995 Supreme Court ruling.
Between the lines: “We will have to help people in ways that we rarely have to do at the moment, such as travel or childcare or other logistical assistance,” said PPNCS CEO Sarah Stoes.
What they say: Robin Marty, director of operations at the Center for Women in West Alabama, said the clinic’s only provider may need to find a new job.
- “How do I keep her when the thing that matters to her, the thing she’s training for, is now something that could take her to jail?” Marty said.
- The other two abortion clinics in Kentucky briefly stopped providing abortions last month after the state adopted new restrictions. “This short period of time … was a very realistic window of what things would be like without Rowe vs. Wade,” said Hannah Peterson, an abortion provider in the state.
- She said she had no plans to move. “There is always more work to be done. But, you know, now that the threat is more inevitable, I don’t know if moving elsewhere would solve anything, “she said.
How it works: 13 states have passed “trigger” laws that will immediately ban abortion if and when federal procedural law is repealed, as a draft opinion would expire this week. Providers who try to continue working in these states may face criminal penalties. And more states are likely to impose additional restrictions once the court rules.
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