Abortion Clinics' Post-Roe Future: 'We Will Be Forced to Close Our Doors Within 30 Days'

Abortion Clinics’ Post-Roe Future: ‘We Will Be Forced to Close Our Doors Within 30 Days’
6/18/2022 by Wyoming McGinn and Michelle Moulton
Overturning Roe v. Wade will strip millions of their right to abortion. Some abortion clinics are bracing for an influx of patients; many others will shut down completely.



More than half of US states could ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is repealed, including 13 states with so-called “trigger bans” that would almost immediately outlaw abortions if the landmark case is upended. (Getty Images)

A decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is due out any day, one that feminist organizers are now sure will reverse Roe v. Wade and strip millions of their longstanding right to abortion. With 26 states set to partially or completely ban abortion if Roe is overturned, clinics in protected areas are bracing for an influx of patients while those in anti-abortion states are preparing to operate in a hostile environment—or shut down completely. Since Roe, states have continuously attacked reproductive rights through unnecessary and burdensome clinic regulations, so-called “personhood bills” that undermine women’s rights and “trigger bans” that would immediately ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe. Prosecutors in anti-abortion states have criminalized miscarriages and used surveillance technology on pregnant people to enforce existing bans.

“There is no debate when it comes to healthcare, when it comes to science,” said Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH) director Dr. Jamila Perritt at a press briefing earlier this month organized by PRH and Abortion Care Network. “The claim that anti-abortion politicians have continuously made, that bans on abortion are intended to improve the health and well-being of our families and our communities, is blatantly false.” Reproductive health clinics offer other critical services in addition to abortions. In Charleston, W. Va., the Women’s Health Center offers STI screenings and treatment, birth control and cervical cancer screenings, and will soon be adding gender-affirming hormone treatment.
. . . .


Unsurprisingly, clinics in states where abortion will remain legal anticipate an overwhelming increase in out-of-state patients, leading to appointments delayed by weeks or even months. Mercedes Sanchez at Cedar River Clinics in Washington anticipates a 385 percent increase in patients when Roe falls. States such as Illinois will face as high as an 8,651 percent increase in patients for whom they have the nearest abortion provider. Sanchez’s clinic is now focused on getting the necessary funding and staff to prepare for such an influx. “We need to think bigger, better, different,” she said. In some pro-abortion states, lawmakers are passing bills allowing other healthcare providers like nurses, nurse-midwives and physicians’ assistants to provide abortions to prepare for this increase.
. . . .




Abortion pills are highly effective—with an over 95 percent success rate for pregnancies up to 10 weeks—and they are extremely safe. Serious adverse events are rare, occurring in less than one-third of one percent of cases. When patients before 10 weeks obtain in-clinic abortions, they are often medication abortions. “People should be free of stigma and criminalization, no matter what method of abortion that they choose,” said Dr. April Lockley, a fellow with PRH and administrator of the Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline. Her service provides callers with free, real-time, anonymous answers about abortion pills from medical professionals. “While self-managing abortion is safe,” Lockley said, “it should not be the only option.”

. . . .

https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/18/abortion-clinics-closed-post-roe-v-wade/