Even before a strict abortion ban came into effect in Texas this week, clinics in neighboring states were recording more and more …
Even before a strict abortion ban went into effect in Texas this week, clinics in neighboring states were receiving increasing numbers of calls from women desperate for alternatives.
One clinic in Oklahoma had received more than twice as many inquiries, two-thirds of them from Texas. A Kansas clinic estimates patient increases of up to 40% based on calls from women in Texas. A Colorado clinic, which had already started seeing more patients from other states, was preparing to increase its care and staff in anticipation of the law’s going into effect.
Texas law, which is allowed to stand in a US Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks. In a very unusual twist, enforcement is done by private individuals who can sue anyone they believe is breaking the law.
“There is real panic about how they can have an abortion in six weeks,” said Anna Rupani, co-director of Fund Texas Choice, one of several nonprofits that help pay for travel and other expenses for patients who are outside the state seeking abortions. “I fear that if I fail in six weeks, I may not make it because I may not be able to leave my job or my family for more than a day.”
For women who are struggling to find childcare or would take time off from work, traveling to see an abortion may be impossible. And for those without legal US status along the southern Texas border, traveling to an abortion clinic also risks being stopped at a checkpoint.
Fund Texas Choice is one of those groups looking to build a network to help women in Texas and other places with restrictive abortion laws end their pregnancies in other states. It has already seen more women come forward. The organization typically handles 10 new cases a week, but didn’t receive 10 calls from new clients until Wednesday when the law went into effect.
The phenomenon is not new. Women increasingly seek abortions outside of the state as Republican parliaments and governors have enacted increasingly stringent abortion laws, especially in the south. At least 276,000 women ended their pregnancies outside of their home state between 2012 and 2017, according to an Associated Press 2019 analysis of state and federal data.
The trend seems to have accelerated over the past year. Abortion clinics in neighboring states saw a surge in calls from Texas after Governor Greg Abbott banned abortions for nearly a month under a COVID-19 ordinance in March 2020.
The number of Texans requesting abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics in the Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and southern Nevada, was 12 times higher that month. In California, 7,000 patients from other states came to Planned Parenthood clinics in 2020.
The number of Texans having abortions in Kansas rose from 25 in 2019 to 289 last year. The Trust Women Clinic in Wichita performed 203 of these procedures over a three-month period. These patients traveled an average of 1,000 kilometers, said Trust Women spokesman Zack Gingrich-Gaylord.
“Last year was a dress rehearsal,” he said, predicting similar numbers under new Texas law.
One woman discovered she was pregnant just as Abbott’s emergency abortion ordinance was lifted. She and her partner had lost their jobs in San Antonio during the pandemic.
“We didn’t know which direction the world would take when everything was closed and no change was in sight,” said Miranda, who spoke on condition that only her first name should be used for fear of harassment and intimidation. “The last thing I wanted was to be pregnant.”
She was struggling to find an abortion clinic that could help. An online search led her to Fund Texas Choice and the Lilith Fund, another organization that provides financial assistance to Texans seeking abortions. They offered to pay for a flight to New Mexico.
“It’s so comforting because it’s like someone saying, ‘We have you. Let’s do this together, ‘”said Miranda.
Eventually she found an appointment at a clinic in Dallas, a five-hour drive away. The groups helped with gasoline and shelter, aids that will become even more important with the new law, Miranda said.
“To be able to help me in a time of need when I had nothing, not even a job – I think many women would benefit from that if they knew these possibilities exist,” she said.
Trust Women Wichita Clinic’s director Ashley Brink said the phones were busy with potential patients from Texas and beyond this week than normal. Louisiana and Alabama women have also called who would normally get abortion treatment in Texas but have to travel further.
The clinic typically sees 40 to 50 abortion patients per week and is now expecting an additional 15 to 20.
At the Trust Women’s Clinic in Oklahoma City, 80 appointments have been made in the past two days, more than double the usual number, said assistant director Rebecca Tong. Two-thirds were from Texas, and the earliest opening was three weeks later.
“Oklahoma has just enough clinics for the number of people here,” Tong said. “If someone thinks, ‘Oh, they can just get out of state, it will be that easy,’ a lot of clinics in the Midwest and South don’t do abortion treatment five days a week.”
In the past few months, 15% of patients supported by Cobalt, an abortion advocacy group in Colorado, came from overseas, President Karen Middleton said. She assumes that this number will continue to rise.
The group manages a fund to cover the costs of procedures, travel, room and board. Preparations began a few weeks ago for a possible influx of patients from Texas.
“We reached out to everyone who performs abortions in the state of Colorado,” said Middleton. “We asked them to be ready and let us know if they can handle the increased capacity.”
Travel for the procedure may still be out of reach for some. Women without legal US status could resort to abortion drugs, said Diana Gomez, advocacy manager at Progress Texas, although even that option is being questioned.
Several Republican-led states have passed laws making pills difficult to access and banning prescriptions through virtual health visits. Texas is considering similar restrictions that could force women to receive self-abortion pills or other methods in the mail.
“They will have to go underground and find alternative means in our state,” said Gomez.
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Associate press writer David Crary in New York contributed to this report. Samuels is a corps member of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a not-for-profit national utility that places journalists on local newsrooms to cover undercover issues.
Copyright © 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written, or redistributed.
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