The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago not only made access to abortion harder for many, it also has had a detrimental effect in other areas, from contraceptive care to mental illness and maternal mortality.
Plus, fewer medical school graduates are applying to residency programs in states that have banned or restricted access to abortion, and those health professionals working in those states now must travel elsewhere for abortion training.
And as Illinois has experienced, thousands of abortion patients — many who are lower income — now have the added expense and burden of traveling out of state to obtain care since Roe, which had been in place since 1973, was overturned. Last year, 171,000 people traveled to another state for an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Most of them came to Illinois, a New York Times analysis found.
Pro-choice public officials and activists have vowed to keep Illinois a safe haven for abortion rights. But as the dominoes keep crashing down, including the possibility that anti-abortion lawmakers in Congress might push for a federal abortion ban, it's important for everyone who supports reproductive rights to be vigilant.
The anti-abortion crowd has been pushing its agenda at the state level for a much longer time than abortion rights activists except here in Illinois, as Sarah Garza Resnick, the president and CEO of Personal PAC, says.
The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling two years ago Monday has only emboldened those voices and Illinois isn't immune, Garza Resnick says, citing a northwest suburb where high school students with pregnancy concerns are sent to a "fake clinic" where they are often lied to about the gestational age of embryos and aren't educated about abortion care.
"There is work to clean up in our own backyards," Garza Resnick said.
Yet Illinois residents are in a much better place than women and girls in the 14 states that have abortion bans or severe restrictions, like Florida, which just banned most abortions after six weeks — a time when most girls and women may not even know they are pregnant. "The anti-choice movement is creative and tenacious, and they're not going to give up, so we can't either," Garza Resnick says.
Abortion clinics in Illinois and elsewhere will soon lose a significant portion of funding from the National Abortion Federation because the group is trying to meet the growing demands of hundreds of patients across the country, says Dr. Allison Cowett, medical director of the West Loop's Family Planning Associates.
By the fall, Illinois will also lose a "big chunk" of funding from a group that had been paying 100% of the costs of abortion care for patients traveling from elsewhere, Cowett says. An onslaught of anti-abortion protesters with bullhorns led the Chicago City Council to pass an ordinance earlier this month establishing a "quiet zone" around the facility's abortion clinic.
"Those funds are literally drying up in a few months, and it's not for lack of people caring about the cause," Cowett says. "It's just because the resources are not infinite." Among the 30% of Cowett's out-of-state abortion patients, many have never been in a plane or left their state before.
Helping these patients takes putting on our thinking caps. Airlines and ride-hailing companies can ease the hassles and costs related to their trips, and day care centers can watch these women's other children if they can't afford child care.
"If we're going continue with this robust ecosystem and be able to provide everybody with support, we need more people on board with large scale support," Cowett says.
It's also essential to make reproductive rights and abortion access a voting issue in November, even in down-ballot races.
Political candidates should take note. A record-high 32% of voters say they would only vote for a candidate for major office who shares their views on abortion, a Gallup poll from earlier this month found. Elected leaders and candidates also need to bear in mind: Most Americans believe abortion should remain legal.
It is because of the "brave human beings" sharing their stories that Americans aren't afraid to take such a stance, Garza Resnick believes. "People have to talk abortion," she says. "They have to be open about it."
The news tied to reproductive rights has been grim.
The Supreme Court, which is poised to issue a decision on Idaho's abortion ban, recently preserved access to mifepristone, the medication used in most abortions and for miscarriage care. The ruling, however, isn't airtight, as it doesn't impede future challenges to the drug by lower courts and state legislatures.
Illinois must keep the conversation going, even raise it a notch, to stay a step ahead and ensure reproductive freedom.
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