Abortions in the USA: long journeys, anxious waiting

Many US states have tightened their abortion rules or even made abortions impossible. Women have to travel far to find clinics. Anyone who supports them could be criminalized.

Arriving from Texas by plane takes several hours. The journey by car at least two days. Thirty percent of the patients at her Minnesota clinic are from Texas, says Amy Hagstrom of Whole Woman’s Health.

Texas abortion ban

Texas passed a strict ban on abortion nine months ago. In other states, too, abortions are no longer permitted at all, or only permitted under difficult conditions. Women there who want to terminate their pregnancy have to travel to states where abortions are still possible.

It will cost her time and money, says Jennifer Pepper of Choices Clinic in Memphis, Tennessee. This is a big problem, especially for less affluent women. “A lot of people won’t be able to travel to Carbondale or other clinics. They’ll be forced to continue their pregnancy,” says Pepper.

This group does not have access to safe maternity care. “Women will die, babies will die. And as far as I know, no one is trying to provide better maternity protection right now.”

Help with money and logistics

There are now numerous foundations and donation-based organizations nationwide that help with money and logistics. This involves financing the costs of travel and accommodation as well as possible loss of earnings for the women concerned.

Many women choose not to get pregnant for financial reasons – like mother of two, Malia Baker. “It was a difficult decision for me and my children’s father. We decided it would be best for us because we are not financially, mentally and physically ready to have another child,” says Baker. You have to focus on your two children, who are still small.

abortions in other states

In some states with bans on abortion, conservative politicians are considering how to prevent women from terminating their pregnancies in other states. But no state can prevent someone from traveling from one state to another, says Lawrence Gostin of the Georgetown Law Center.

But Greer Donley of the University of Pittsburg warns: “You can’t physically stop them, but you can hold those who help others accountable.”

The uncertainty grows

Anyone who helps women to have an abortion could be criminalized. Uncertainty is growing, as a New York Times team learned when they met a mother who had come to a clinic in Kansas with her daughter from Texas.

The woman says she’s too afraid to ask someone if she’s going to get in trouble. “I’m sitting here and I feel like throwing up. Is that against the law? I don’t know. It’s just scary.” Ultimately, she is a mother and this is her daughter. “And I protect her.”