Texas Women Make 1,000 Miles to Get Aborted, Mississippi Strikes Roe V. Wade

  • Insider heard from abortion providers that women and girls had been forced to travel overnight to get abortion care.
  • Patients have traveled approximately 2,000 miles round trip from Houston to Aurora, Colorado.
  • Cheap “postal”In the US, abortions are becoming an easily available option to end a pregnancy.

Mississippi is set to present the Supreme Court on December 1st with legislation that will not only block abortions from being performed but also to ban them altogether. Completely overturnRoe V. Wade, 1973 ruling which recognized a woman’s constitutional right of termination of a pregnancy.

A month earlier, the Supreme Court heard the Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson case — an attempt to overturn Texas’ near ban on abortions. Justice Brett Kavanaugh The law could be changed. “model of suppression”Copycat laws in other states may be a violation of your constitutional rights.

This is in addition to the nationwide trend of 106 laws that were passed in states to ban abortions in the past year. “extreme acceleration”Ashley Collman, Insider reporter, reported that the prosecution of pregnancy was underway.

September 1 was the date Texas passed its abortion bill. The bill was previously known as SB 8 but is now commonly called the Heartbeat Act. no cardiac activityA fetus is six weeks old at the latest. This is when a Texas resident can get an abortion. This is the example of what could happen in the event that more states deny access to reproductive healthcare.

An act provides for the possibility to sue anyone who supports illegal abortions. This includes lawyers, doctors, and Uber drivers who transport women to abortion clinics. Private enforcement is encouraged by the act. “bounty hunters”If a defendant is proven liable, the plaintiff will be charged $10,000 plus any costs.

Doctors became afraid for their jobs after Texas tightened abortion laws.

“This law is not stopping abortion, at least for the most part,”Rachel Lachenauer is the National Abortion Federation’s director of patient experience. This helpline offers support for all aspects of abortion care in the United States.

“For many patients, what it has done has just created unbelievable hardship. And I think that’s the intent of the law. The law essentially says, ‘If you’re going to even dare to try to access abortion care, wow, we are going to make it just as destructive for you as possible,'”She said.

She also stated that the National Abortion Federation received more than 3,000 calls from Texans in need of abortion support between September 1st and October 31.

“They want to be able to go down the road to their local provider who has been a part of their community for, in some cases, decades. But now they’re having to go out of state and incur this incredible financial, emotional, logistical hardship to do so,” Lachenauer continued.

Lachenauer claimed that SB 8 did not prevent doctors from treating pregnant women who may want an abortion, but they were still seeing them to address separate issues.

Insider spoke to her about the experiences and concerns of pregnant women who called National Abortion Federation to complain of their fear that their doctors would not treat them if they considered an abortion. Doctors feared they could be sued for aiding and abetting abortion.

Patients are increasing by 600% in abortion clinics located in the bordering states.

Oklahoma’s Dr. Joshua YapA provider of abortions, he testified to the Supreme Court in Whole Woman’s Health, v. Jackson Case. He saw a 646% rise in Texan patients crossing into Texas to get an abortion at his Planned Parenthood Clinic in Tulsa in the 12 days after SB 8 was introduced.

Julie Murray, attorney with Planned Parenthood, and Marc Hearron, attorney representing the Texas abortion clinics, speak to the press outside the U.S. Supreme Court on November 01, 2021 in Washington, DC

Julie Murray, an attorney for Planned Parenthood and Marc Hearron representing Texas abortion clinics, speak to the media outside of the Supreme Court in Washington DC on November 1.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images


Yap claimed that before the introduction bill, it was not unusual for him to visit Texan residents because it made logistical sense. The Supreme Court was told by Yap that he now saw people who had traveled long distances to visit his Tulsa clinic. One woman drove through Texas at midnight to get to her morning appointment for termination, only to turn around and drive home.

Yap was involved in one instance. “one of the most heart-wrenching cases”According to him, a minor who’d been raped in his family’s home had to travel eight-hours one way to get an abortive procedure.

She was six weeks pregnant and had exceeded Texas’ legal limit to terminate a pregnancy. The provisions of the Heartbeat Act do not cover incest.

Yap also stated that patients were referred to Kansas and Arkansas abortion facilities as soon as their clinic was full.

Vicki CowartThe President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains also testified before the Supreme Court. She stated that Texas patients accounted for 29% of all abortions performed at the New Mexico health centers between September 1 and September 11.

Cowart stated that patients have traveled. “incredibly long distances”To reach the health centres. Patients had to travel 2,000 miles round trip from Houston to Aurora in Colorado. According to her, one patient was sent to Las Vegas for her abortion.

“On average, the Texas patients we have seen since S.B. 8 went into effect have traveled approximately 650 miles (one way) to access abortion out of state,”Cowart stated.

Texas Right to LifeThe original home of the “whistleblowing”website to report abortions.

Amy Hagstrom Miller is the president and CEO for Whole Woman’s Health Alliance. She told Insider “abortion restrictions do nothing to prevent unintended pregnancy — that rate is actually highest in countries with the most severe restrictions.”

Elisa Wels, cofounder and codirector Plan CThe site is an informational resource about online access to abortion pills.

“Twenty-six percent of the traffic to our site is from Texas, with IP addresses of users both in major cities and in small towns throughout the state,”Wells stated this in an email.

Cheap “postal” abortions are fast becoming one of the more readily available options to terminate a pregnancy — AP reporting that they now account for about 40% of US abortions — but the safety and legality of the procedure is questionable.

Telemedicine consultations and drug delivery are banned in certain states. That, mixed in with a range of differing — and changing — laws on abortion, can be a legal gray zone.

However, for women in Texas over six weeks of pregnancy, sometimes an abortion is the only option.

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