While some Texans can afford to fly to California and other states for abortions, most drive to neighboring states. mollyhf reports:
Of the 25 patients who showed up at Trust Women Wichita clinic in Kansas for abortions Thursday, 10 drove hundreds of miles north from Texas, traveling farther and at greater cost because of a new law in the Lone Star StateOutside the clinic, several antiabortion protesters lingered with a doll set up in a baby swing, trying to hand pamphlets to women as they drove into the parking lot already full of vehicles with Texas license plates.
, when the governors of Oklahoma and Texas suspended abortions as elective procedures during the pandemic . But Texas’ abortion ban is the most restrictive enacted since Roe vs. Wade.More than a dozen mainly Southern states have passed “heartbeat laws” similar to Texas’, but most have been blocked by the courts. The U.S.
Meagan looked tired, wearing a Bob Marley T-shirt, sweatpants and sandals, her light brown hair loose around her shoulders. She said she worried that the Texas clinics she consulted might get her in trouble under the new law. When she asked the staff at one of the clinics where she could get an abortion out of state, she said they told her they couldn’t help. When they called to find out where she was going, she stopped answering.
Clinic staffer Melissa Tovar was used to stress: The fenced Wichita clinic has drawn crowds and even closed for several years after its director, Dr. George Tiller,But now she’s fielding calls from increasingly desperate Texas women trying to schedule abortions, some already in their second trimester. She’s had to refer some to clinics in Colorado and New Mexico, which allow abortions later in pregnancies than Kansas.
“There’s people that can’t travel, that can’t get away, that can’t afford the trip,” she said. “You’re hurting people who are already down.” But Seago said the group, which set up a website for those seeking to enforce the law, has been “monitoring closely all of the public statements from the abortion providers as well as their status as a clinic.”
Inside the clinic, the director — who has a clothes hanger tattooed behind her ear — said the law had been demoralizing.“This is as close as we’ve come to Roe falling. It’s going to get bad. It’s already very bad,” she said as she sat in her office next to a sign that said, “Keep Abortion Safe.” They are fielding double the number of calls, raised about $20,000, attracted nearly three dozen volunteers and are adding trainings, she said.
The average out-of-pocket cost of abortion varies nationwide depending on insurance coverage, from $300 to $1,500 for medication abortion, and $295 to $1,600 for surgical abortion, according to a California legislative analysis this year.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Texans driving to neighbor states for abortions, prompting worries of overwhelming clinics'Since S.B. 8 took effect on September 1, exactly what we feared would happen has come to pass,' said Melaney Linton, president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Read more »
Texans driving to neighbor states for abortions, prompting worries of overwhelming clinics'Since S.B. 8 took effect on September 1, exactly what we feared would happen has come to pass,' said Melaney Linton, president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Read more »
Will the Senate’s Most Frustrated Climate Hawk Finally Get the Change He’s Been Waiting For?After 279 speeches and a long, lonely fight, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse says it’s now or never.
Read more »
Virginia governor candidates McAuliffe, Youngkin to face off in first debateDemocrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin set to square off in Virginia's first gubernatorial debate of the general election season.
Read more »
Former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis on the New Abortion Law: “Fight Like Hell” - Women’s Media Center“I want to be clear: That is what is motivating to restricting abortion access. There are very few who sincerely believe that pregnant people should lose this right. What they do sincerely care about are their own political futures.”
Read more »