April 3, 2020

Abortion is a human right. A pandemic doesn’t change that

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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Abortion is a human right. A pandemic doesn't change that (opinion ...

Access to abortion is an essential service and a fundamental human right. Period. The denial of it, including in times of global crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

In the United States, the Trump administration’s colossal failure to help keep people healthy and to slow the pandemic-driven implosion of the economy shouldn’t come as a surprise to much of the public. He has delayed acknowledging the severity of Covid-19, prematurely hinted at an end to social distancing and over the course of his term in office, attempted to slash funding for the WHO, the CDC, and other preparedness agencies that are tasked with the monitoring of such epidemics. The list goes on and on.
But even as some states are stepping up in heroic ways where the federal government has fallen short, several states – Mississippi, Ohio, Texas and Oklahoma – have moved to limit abortion as a part of their responses to the coronavirus threat.
All four states have classified abortions that are not a medical emergency as non-essential medical services that must be canceled or deferred, telling providers to stop performing them during the coronavirus pandemic. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week ordered that state medical providers stop all non-essential surgeries, which Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton confirmed Monday includes abortions not medically necessary to preserve the life and health of the mother; Paxton noted violations could include a penalty of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves told media Tuesday that he would take action if the state’s lone clinic was providing elective abortions after the state health department ordered that non-essential surgery be postponed. In Ohio, Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Fulkerson ordered multiple abortion providers to adhere the state health director’s executive order stopping non-essential procedures. Fulkerson also sent a similar letter to an Ohio urologist, and his office highlighted this when it stressed that this was not an abortion issue.) Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt suspended abortions by executive order on Tuesday, clarifying Friday that the order pertained to elective abortions.
Covid-19 comes at a time of unprecedented backlash against abortion rights. All three of these states have sought to restrict access during the last year. Mississippi and Ohio passed so-called “heartbeat bills” (later blocked by federal judges) that would have banned abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy; multiple cities in Texas have declared themselves “sanctuary cities for the unborn,” adopting unenforceable measures purporting to outlaw abortion within city limits.
These efforts to curb abortion rights are also happening in a global context where human rights are under assault. Here at home and around the world, the rights to gender equality, education and employment, and general well-being have come under siege. As Covid-19 has revealed the severity of inequalities around the world, some of those who will be hit hardest by the virus are women, who make up 70% of frontline workers in the health and social sectors.
They will also be the ones hit hardest by restrictions on abortion, with little choice but to resort to unsafe and oftentimes illegal procedures. Usually in the US, the later in pregnancy the abortion, the more expensive it gets. And delays in accessing abortion service can put pregnant people outside the time limits imposed by restrictive abortion laws. Thus, in the midst of economic turmoil, to be forced to delay an abortion is simply a non-option.
In short: now is not the time for lawmakers to put public health and safety measures like critical reproductive services last on their list of priorities.
Abortion services are essential services. Cutting back access to them violates fundamental human rights and will undoubtedly lead to a sharp increase in unsafe abortion procedures. And in a world where global health systems are already overwhelmed with Covid-19 responses, access to emergency medical care to manage the consequences of unsafe abortions will diminish further.
The UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice has noted that denial of essential women’s health services, including abortion, will “drive service provision underground into the hands of unqualified practitioners…. Persistently high maternal mortality rates often reflect a lack of investment in and under-prioritization of services required only by women.” For hundreds of thousands of women across the globe, like the coronavirus pandemic itself, access to abortion can be quite literally a matter of life or death.
Some states in the US recognize this. Washington and Massachusetts have both taken steps to protect abortion as an essential service in light of Covid-19. Further, reproductive health experts and doctors have said that abortion is an essential service and can be provided safely during the outbreak, in the clinic and via telemedicine.
However, those recommendations have not been heeded in Mississippi, Texas, Ohio and Oklahoma, nor at the federal level.
These are exactly the types of actions that human rights experts have been warning about: states of emergency cannot be used to curtail fundamental human rights. Emergency declarations should never function as a cover for repressive action under the guise of protecting people’s health.
So let’s call these restrictions what they really are: an opportunistic moment for a radical right-wing agenda to restrict women’s rights, which, leading up to now, we have seen in every aspect of this administration—from the imposition of the domestic and global gag rules, to efforts at the United Nations to block ambiguous language on sexual and reproductive rights, to the launch of the State Department’s Unalienable Rights Commission, which is purported to provide “thinking about human rights discourse where such discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights.” (We recently filed a lawsuit against the State Department and two of its officials for operating the commission in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, to which the administration has thus far not offered a public response.)
Crises, like the one we are currently in, reveal why human rights protections are so fundamental, and as such, there’s no better time than now to hold the US accountable to its commitments to human rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights. Abortion has always been an essential, time-sensitive procedure. Now more than ever — women cannot afford for conservative ideologists to forcefully cut back access to abortion services.
Women and families across the globe have dealt with enough. Governments worldwide should focus on eradicating the Covid-19 pandemic, not using it as a political weapon to undermine women’s rights.
 

April 2, 2020

Every Abortion Is A Medically Essential Abortion

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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As people shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of jokes are being made about the baby boom that will be coming in 9 months. That’s understandable. In times where we’re very concerned about death, joking is necessary and the idea of new life is something that can make people feel much more hopeful.
It gets less lighthearted when you realize that many of those pregnancies will not be wanted. But in a time when medical clinics, hospitals, and doctors are already compromised by an influx of coronavirus-afflicted patients, women are bound to have a hard time gaining access to standard reproductive healthcare — and that’s just fine with some lawmakers.
Republicans are using this pandemic as an excuse to, among other things, bar women from reproductive choice. As medical facilities in many states cease performing what are termed inessential procedures (say, for instance, cosmetic surgery) in order to conserve supplies, some members of the GOP are attempting to exploit the situation and effectively ban abortion.
In Ohio, the Deputy Attorney General John Fulkerson wrote to clinics: “You and your facility are ordered to immediately stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions.” If you’re wondering what non-essential abortions are, his letter clarified: “Non-essential surgical abortions are those that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.”
Fulkerson perhaps does not realize that pregnancy and childbirth always endanger women’s health. Every day, 830 women die due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. The U.S.’s maternal mortality rate is also notably bad — we rank 55th in world, only slightly ahead of Ukraine.  As our hospitals and their staff become increasingly overwhelmed with coronavirus patients — a virtual inevitability at this point — it seems unlikely our maternal mortality rate will improve. If Fulkerson and his ilk were actually pro-life, they’d be concerned about the fact that women keep dying as a result of pregnancy — but then, I suppose fetuses don’t use such shrill unpleasant voices as they demand their basic rights to healthcare.
Beyond the inherent misogyny at play, Republicans are also showing an inability to grasp what is and what isn’t an essential medical procedure. As Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a director at Planned Parenthood notes, “Obviously, abortion is an essential service because it is time sensitive in nature.”
Right. If you do not get an abortion, you may well get a baby. Apparently childbirth is not something that people are worried about overwhelming hospitals, in spite of the fact that 21 percent of births in the U.S. are now C-sections, a surgical procedure. Apparently medical professionals being overwhelmed is fine, as long as they’re engaging in childbirth and not abortion.
Fortunately, Planned Parenthood Ohio has issued a statement claiming that, “Planned Parenthood can still continue performing essential procedures, including surgical abortion.”
At least for now.
But Ohio’s de facto abortion ban is  just one of what will doubtless be many attempts to use this disaster as a way to scale back women’s rights. Other states are already following Ohio’s lead.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ordered a ban on abortions in the state unless the life of the mother is threatened, and people who provide abortions can face up to 180 days in jail. When this is over, they may well just decide not to change that rule back, on the presumed basis that it will be working so well for people — at least, people who are not in need of abortions.
In Maryland, Governor Larry Hogan was asked if abortion was considered an inessential procedure, and he replied, “They’ve got to free up beds for the things that are needed to save people’s lives.” This despite the fact that abortions often do save the lives of the women seeking them.
On a more national scale, nearly as soon as this crisis began, Republicans have attempted to put anti-choice language into bills designed to address hardship following the COVID-19 outbreak, and allow for increased testing.Treating an abortion as though it is a frivolous procedure akin to deciding to a face lift and not something absolutely necessary is absurd.
All of this is happening at what is already a terrible time for many vulnerable women.
Mandatory waiting periods, which entail traveling for hours and staying overnight in many states where abortion clinics are difficult to access, make it nearly impossible to have an abortion at a time when we’re supposed to “shelter in place.” Groups like the Haven Coalition in New York, and the Midwest Access Coalition, which typically provide places for those traveling far distances for abortions to stay may find it far harder to do so as people are encouraged to avoid strangers, or, at least, not let them sleep over in their apartments.
And if women can’t access abortions, the reprecussions on their lives can be severe.
Studies have shown that, while having an abortion doesn’t result in harm to women’s mental health, being denied one does. It leads to a spike in issues like anxiety and depression.
And for women unable to access and abortion, that anxiety is often justified. Women comprise the majority of minimum wage earners in virtually every state. They’re likely to work in industries that are especially hard hard as we’re called to self isolate — for instance, 93 percent of domestic workers are women. An unwanted pregnancy is an added financial hardship that many women will not be able to tolerate right now. And, having an unwanted child after being denied an abortion quadruples the odds a mother and her new child will be forced to live below the poverty line. That seems like a terribly unfair hardship to inflict on women in what is likely to be a global recession.
Strange that many members of the GOP, who seem to feel it’s quite acceptable to sacrifice sentient human beings to keep the cruise ship industry afloat, don’t seem especially moved by female hardship. Perhaps if we more closely resembled a Carnival ship they’d take our needs more seriously.
But then, some people will say, why are those women having sex if they don’t want to get pregnant? First off, because sex is a pleasurable activity. Though, I have always sensed that the men who ask this question have never given a woman enough pleasure to recognize it as such. And, on the topic of terrible men, many women are now trapped in abusive situations. Domestic violence hotlines in places like Portland claim that the number of calls they receive has doubled since the Coronavirus outbreak began. If women are isolated with abusive men who do not respect their bodily autonomy, it will very likely result in some unwanted pregnancies.
If that doesn’t seem like something that’s important to focus on right now — well, I’d say that forcing women to bring unwanted children into the world in a time when they already have plenty of causes for stress and despair seems downright inhumane. To say that it’s not essential is to say that women’s wellbeing is inessential. And if we make the determination to dismiss women’s wellbeing now, what’s to say we’ll ever go back?
COVID-19 has been declared a global pandemic. Go to the NHS website for the latest information on symptoms, prevention, and other resources.
 

April 1, 2020

Texas abortion ban can go back into effect, Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rules

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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Texas will again be allowed to implement its temporary ban on abortion, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday afternoon. Per the order, any abortion “not medically necessary to preserve the life or health” of the patient must be halted as part of the state’s directive suspending “non-essential” medical procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The ban was briefly lifted on Monday evening when a lower court ruled the suspension of abortion services was unconstitutional and in violation of Supreme Court precedent, including Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

“I thank the court for their immediate and careful attention to the health and safety needs of Texans suffering from the spread of COVID-19,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement Tuesday. “The temporary stay ordered this afternoon justly prioritizes supplies and personal protective equipment for the medical professionals in need.”

Texas is among five states facing legal battles over restricting abortion access during the coronavirus pandemic. In a sweep of legal filings Monday, a coalition of abortion rights groups challenged similar bans in Alabama, Iowa, Ohio and Oklahoma. So far, judges have ordered bans in Alabama and Ohio to be lifted.

In Texas, Paxton ordered all abortion services immediately halted last week, with the limited exception of those that are “necessary to preserve the life or health” of the patient, interpreting Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order that banned “non-essential” medical procedures to include abortion services.

In a matter of days, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Lawyering Project filed a joint complaint, asking a federal court for an immediate temporary restraining order, calling the directive “unconstitutional.”

Since Paxton’s order, hundreds of patients have been unable to receive an abortion in the state, forcing some to travel to neighboring states despite a stay-at-home order. At the time of publication, the Center for Reproductive Rights was calling providers in the state, notifying them that their brief window to offer abortion services had closed.

“The Fifth Circuit is escalating the fear and confusion women seeking abortion in Texas are already experiencing,” said Nancy Northup, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in a statement shared with CBS News on Tuesday afternoon. “The trial court found just yesterday that women will suffer irreparable harm if clinics are closed. We will continue fighting this legal battle against Texas’ abuse of emergency powers.”

In Tuesday’s ruling, three federal judges — Judge James L. Dennis, Judge Kyle Duncan and Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod — issued a temporary stay, allowing the ban on abortion to remain in place.

Judge Dennis, a Clinton appointee, dissented: “A federal judge has already concluded that irreparable harm would flow from allowing the Executive Order to prohibit abortions during this critical time,” Dennis wrote. Judge Duncan was appointed by President Donald Trump and Judge Elrod by former President George W. Bush.

The groups challenging Texas’ suspension of abortion access have until Wednesday morning to file a response.

“Texans are losing their jobs, they are struggling to put food on the table, they can’t get COVID-19 testing — meanwhile indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is doubling down on banning abortion,” Aimee Arrambide, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas executive director, said in a statement shared with CBS News on Tuesday afternoon. “Let’s be clear, it is never the right time to play politics, but doing so in the wake of COVID-19 is a despicable low.”

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-abortion-halted-united-states-court-of-appeals-fifth-circuit/?fbclid=IwAR04o991-cu6EfeY37IqwWo1wJ4HUpE9XJZPvofJF5b6ar8LH9VykQZsfwQ

 

March 31, 2020

Telemedicine Abortion: What It Is and Why We Need It Now More Than Ever

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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Antiabortion politicians in states across the country are using the COVID-19 pandemic to block access to abortion—arguing abortion is not essential health care and supporting limitations in the interest of conserving personal protective equipment for COVID-19 cases.

Medical experts, however, are coming to the exact opposite conclusion.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and seven other medical organizations issued a statement last week declaring that abortion is time-sensitive, essential health care and that lack of access may “profoundly impact a person’s life, health and well-being.”

In fact, physicians are calling for more and easier access to abortion, not less.

“The arguments attempting to close clinics based on conserving personal protective equipment (PPE) are not based in evidence. What we should be doing is expanding access to telemedicine provision of abortion during this pandemic,” said Dr. Daniel Grossman, an OB/GYN, abortion provider, and director of the University of California, San Francisco’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH).

What is Telemedicine Abortion?

Telemedicine abortion combines medication abortion—which uses pills to end a pregnancy—and telemedicine—which allows health providers to supervise the use of abortion pills via videoconferencing or telephone consultations.

Many people choose medication abortion because it is less invasive and more private than surgical abortion.

Planned Parenthood’s Fiona Tubmen-Scovack (left) and Dr. Jill Meadows demonstrate telemedicine technology. (Iowa Public Radio)

Approved by the FDA for use during the first 10 weeks of gestation, medication abortion uses two types of pills:

  • mifepristone, which interrupts the flow of the hormone progesterone that sustains the pregnancy; and
  • misoprostol, which causes contractions.

Misoprostol alone—which is 80-85 percent effective—or in combination with mifepristone—95 percent effective—is an extremely safe way to end a pregnancy in the first 12 weeks of gestation.

Millions of women around the world have successfully used abortion pills without the assistance of a clinician, which the World Health Organization has approved as safe for up to nine weeks of gestation.

As a result, the percentage of medication abortion has increased significantly since the FDA first approved medication abortion in 2000.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, medication abortion accounted for approximately 40 percent of all recorded abortions and 60 percent of abortions performed up to 10 weeks gestation in 2017. (The actual rate is likely higher because of the growing number of people who are self-managing their abortions using medication purchased on the internet or obtained in other ways.)

The growth of medication abortion has dovetailed with expansion of telehealth to provide new opportunities for pregnant people to access abortion in a safe and private way.

The Mayo Clinic defines telehealth as “the use of digital information and communication technologies, such as computers and mobile devices, to access health care services remotely and manage your health care.”

Telehealth makes health care more accessible to people who live in rural or isolated communities and to people with limited mobility, time or transportation options. Telehealth provides support for self-management of health care.

Nurse Jennifer Witting stands beside newly installed telemedicine equipment at the Aspirus Keweenaw Hospital in Laurium, MI on June 20, 2012. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)

As abortion restrictions have increased over the last several years and harassment of women entering health clinics persists—even during the COVID-19 crisis—women are increasingly turning to medication abortion and telehealth to increase their safety and privacy when obtaining abortion care.

Organizations like SASS, Plan C and Aid Access provide pregnant people with medical counselors from outside the country to help them safely use abortion pills.

Policy Barriers to Telemedicine Abortions

Nevertheless, numerous policy barriers limit the reach of telehealth abortion, reports the Guttmacher Institute. Many states prohibit patient access to the abortion pill via telemedicine, despite its proven safety.

Eighteen states currently require the prescribing clinician to be physically present when prescribing the abortion pill. Thirty-three states require the clinician prescribing the abortion pill to be a physician. Neither of these requirements are necessary because the abortion pill is extremely safe and effective.

Another significant barrier to telemedicine abortion is that the FDA restricts the distribution of mifepristone.

“The FDA requires that mifepristone used for abortion be dispensed in a doctor’s office, clinic or hospital. It may not be mailed to a patient or dispensed on prescription from a pharmacy, ” said Grossman. “This restriction is not based on medical evidence.”

However, since 2016, the organization Gynuity has operated a research study on telemedicine abortion called TelAbortion, which allows clinicians participating in the study to provide medication abortion care by videoconference and mail without an in-person visit to the abortion provider.

The study is currently running in 13 states: Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Georgia, New York, Maine, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Maryland and Montana.

In order to receive care, the patient must be in one of these 13 states during the videoconference and must have a mailing address in that state so the provider can mail the medications.

The patient has screening tests as needed with nearby health care providers, then a videoconference with the abortion provider. If the patient is eligible for medication abortion, the provider sends mifepristone and misoprostol with instructions by mail.

Follow-up is done remotely by phone with local or home tests. This study has shown telemedicine abortion is safe and effective.

So instead of restricting access to abortion, we should be expanding access to telemedicine abortion.

“During the pandemic, it would be possible to provide medication abortion through 11 weeks of pregnancy without an in-person visit and by mailing pills to a patient,” said Grossman. “This would reduce the patient and clinician’s risk of acquiring the virus and not a single piece of PPE would be used.”

Source: https://msmagazine.com/2020/03/26/telemedicine-abortion-what-it-is-and-why-we-need-it-now-more-than-ever/?fbclid=IwAR0g1QS6cC3qqf87y37STBSs8W5VJPDBggLkm-M8nnVXQLMgW1zfAZlAStw

 

March 30, 2020

Ohio abortion providers remain open despite AG’s order

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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Abortion providers in Ohio say they are still open for business, still performing abortions, and still providing care for patients in their communities after an order to stop ‘non-essential’ surgeries last week.

“Abortion is an essential and time sensitive procedure,” said Iris Harvey, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, “we are in compliance.”

Iris Harvey
Iris Harvey, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohi

On Wednesday March 18, the Ohio Department of Health ordered that “all non-essential or elective surgeries” be stopped in an effort to preserve personal protective equipment like masks, gloves and gowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The health department said “a non-essential surgery is a procedure that can be delayed with undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.”

Examples of criteria to consider include:

  • Threat to patient’s life if surgery or procedure is not performed
  • Threat of permanent dysfunction of an extremity or organ system
  • Risk of metastasis or progression of staging; or
  • Risk of rapidly worsening to severe symptoms (time sensitive)

AG sends letters to abortion providers

Just two days later, the Attorney General Dave Yost’s office said it was forwarded complaints that abortion clinics weren’t complying with the non-essential surgery order.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost

On Friday March 20, the Attorney General sent letters to the Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and the Women’s Medical Center in Dayton ordering they “stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions.”

The letters went on to say, “Non-essential surgical abortions are those that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.”

The letter then threatened unspecified action, “If you or your facility do not immediately stop performing non-essential or elective surgical abortions in compliance with the attached order, the Department of Health will take all appropriate measures.”

Essential or Non-Essential?

“I don’t think there is a ‘non-essential’ abortion,” said Harvey.

At their daily briefings, Governor DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton have been pressed by reporters to clarify which abortion procedures would be determined “essential” and which would be considered ‘non-essential’.

Governor DeWine and Dr. Acton Saturday

Neither the Governor nor Dr. Acton would answer those questions but referred them to the Attorney General, who declined our request for an interview.

In an email, the AG’s communications director Bethany McCorkle wrote News 5: “As our client, if Dr. Acton’s office determines that her order was violated by any surgical facility in Ohio, they can refer it to our office to pursue legal action on behalf of the Ohio Department of Health. We cannot provide legal interpretations of her order.”

On Saturday March 21, the Attorney General also sent a letter to stop elective surgeries to the Urology Group in Cincinnati.

McCorkle also wrote, “This is not an abortion issue. A letter was also sent to a urology group that was allegedly performing elective surgeries.”

Lawmaker Appalled

State Senator Nickie Antonio, a Democrat who represents the west side of Cleveland and its suburbs, disagrees.

“I was so appalled at the vehemence of the order,” said Antonio.

Nickie Antonio

OhioSenate.gov
Ohio State Senator Nickie Antonio (right)

“I put the total focus of this whole interpretation of the original order on Attorney General Yost,” she said. “To selectively, just to focus on clinics that provide abortion care, put it into a political nature.”

Now is not the time “to politicize anything,” she said.

Antonio said she has spoken with abortion care providers about the order to halt elective surgeries.

“These clinics are in full compliance with the governor’s orders,” she said. “The misnomer was that somehow they weren’t.”

She also said it is critical women continue to have access to health care, including abortion services, during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Not only is it essential, it’s also time-sensitive,’ she said, due to Ohio’s restrictions on abortions services.

“The AG (attorney general) should not practice medicine without a license,” said Antonio. “It is not his job to identify what is essential for women’s reproductive health care.

”He should just stay in his lane,” she said.

Source: https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/continuing-coverage/coronavirus/local-coronavirus-news/ohio-abortion-providers-remain-open-despite-ags-order?fbclid=IwAR19CG_nMLzOG9afId_V4_RkIr9Nm0abv56QcZZEKEX–kkKoXsPBz9DiM4

 

March 29, 2020

How Republicans Snuck Anti-Abortion Measures Into the Coronavirus Bailout Bill

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Provisions tucked into the fine print of the 880-page bill take direct aim at Planned Parenthood, the reproductive healthcare provider and eternal GOP target over its role providing abortions.

WASHINGTON — A hard-fought battle over abortion raged just beneath the surface of the Senate’s $2 trillion coronavirus economic rescue plan. And it looks like Republicans won.

Provisions tucked into the fine print of the 880-page bill approved by the Senate Thursday take direct aim at Planned Parenthood, the reproductive healthcare provider and eternal GOP target over its role providing abortions. Those details make it harder for the group to shelter from the economic storm unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has already profoundly disrupted the American healthcare system.

The bill makes it much more difficult, if not outright impossible, for Planned Parenthood to access new multi-billion dollar funds aimed at stabilizing the U.S. economy in the midst of the historic downturn, according to experts who spoke with VICE News.

The bill is complex and lengthy, and advocates on both sides of the abortion debate said at first they weren’t entirely sure what was hiding in its pages.

Democrats succeeded in striking one controversial passage from the bill that had seemed tailor-made to keep Planned Parenthood from accessing federally-backed loans. But a team of Republicans led by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida gave the Trump administration other options for blocking federal funding, according to experts who read the bill as well as Planned Parenthood itself.

Trump’s Small Business Administration will have broad latitude to deny Planned Parenthood access to emergency rescue loans created by the new stimulus package and available to other nonprofits. The bill also includes language that blocks state and local governments from using coronavirus rescue funds from being allocated to cover abortion services.

“Anti-choice activists in Congress and the White House used a pandemic response to target sexual and reproductive health care and its providers,” said Clare Coleman, President and CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association. “It is wholly disappointing that Congress failed to support the entirety of the nation’s public health infrastructure.”

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri and diehard abortion opponent, said he’d been assured pro-life forces had emerged victorious from the legislative battle, even though the text of the bill didn’t make that obvious.

“I’m not happy negotiators took out language that excluded Planned Parenthood from receiving government subsidies,” he tweeted. “But I have been assured Planned Parenthood will still NOT be eligible.”

Crisis loans

The bill puts the Small Business Authority in charge of overseeing a massive $350 billion lending program aimed at helping a wide variety of small-time operations across the country meet their payroll and pay rent. But it also gives Trump’s SBA leeway to decide that Planned Parenthood doesn’t qualify.

The bill says that nonprofits with fewer than 500 employees can receive loans. But the SBA gets to rule on whether any of the dozens of individual Planned Parenthood affiliates scattered around the country should be counted by themselves or as a whole, according to experts who reviewed the bill.

There’s also a similar upper ceiling on revenue that functions essentially the same way, creating another avenue for officials to bar Planned Parenthood, legal experts said.

“The Small Business Administration retains discretion to exclude certain providers” from the massive new loan program, said Mara Youdelman, an attorney with the National Health Law Program, a civil rights advocacy group. “This is troubling, especially in the middle of a crisis in the health care system when we need every provider available to provide services.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the group’s advocacy and political arm, acknowledged the impact of the provisions and criticized Republicans for including them.

“The Trump administration and Republican Congressional leadership once again used this must-pass relief bill to advance their anti-abortion agenda,” the group said. “The bill gives the Small Business Administration broad discretion to exclude Planned Parenthood affiliates and other non-profits serving people with low incomes and deny them benefits under the new small business loan program.”

Hyde Amendment provision

The stimulus package also includes language designed to keep states and local governments from using emergency funds for channeling money to pay for abortion.

The restriction links to the Hyde Amendment, which generally bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk, or in cases of rape or incest. In this instance, the limitation was quietly tacked onto a $150 billion regional stabilization fund designed to help governments cope with the coronavirus, legal experts said.

While those funds can be doled out with plenty of leeway for the most part, the new legislation manages to attach Hyde language by referencing the current appropriations law, “Public Law 116-94,” in an otherwise extremely bland-looking paragraph tucked 600 pages deep into the text.

“The state can’t step in and say, [abortion] is going to be included in the package of healthcare that we are using this stabilization money to cover,” said Leila Abolfazli, Director of Federal Reproductive Rights at the National Women’s Law Center. “It ties their hands if they start providing healthcare services.”

Cover: Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., talks with reporters after the Senate Republican Policy luncheon in Russell Building on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3mjm5/how-republicans-snuck-anti-abortion-measures-into-the-coronavirus-bailout-bill?utm_source=vice&utm_medium=ppact-fb-covid&utm_campaign=ppact-fb-covid&utm_content=032820&fbclid=IwAR0ap3CuPGM4BMxVnqNlompo4ZrXwZcmuwwfajoUCIbFqv0s4amLy6nJNQ4

 

March 28, 2020

Paying for an Abortion Was Already Hard. The COVID-19 Economic Downturn Has Made It Even Harder.

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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With anti-abortion state officials using COVID-19 to stop legal abortion and millions losing their jobs, abortion funds are seeing a crush of requests.

“If people don’t have jobs, they can’t afford to put anything towards the procedure and have to pinch pennies to get by. We have to get people their health care access, and abortion is health care,” O’Brien said.
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For people seeking abortion care, the COVID-19 pandemic has made an already difficult situation harder.

In recent weeks, millions have lost their job, and parents are struggling to afford necessary childcare as schools across the United States have closed until further notice. People are faced with abortion costs that, for most, were difficult to afford in the first place. To make matters worse, states like Texas and Oklahoma have classified abortion care as “nonessential” in their COVID-19 response.

Organizations that help cover the costs of abortion care are already seeing the grim effects of a record 3.3 million people in the United States filing for unemployment benefits and Republican state officials using the crisis to interrupt abortion access.

Yellowhammer Fund, an abortion fund based in Alabama, has heard from callers who have lost their job as wide swaths of the economy shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s upsetting to see people become more impacted by what’s going on, and one of the things that’s upsetting is not seeing a better response [from our government] because people are hurting,” Candace E.C. O’Brien, associate director of health services for Yellowhammer Fund, told Rewire.News. “We have a low-income community [that’s] being heavily impacted by the virus that don’t have the same protections as [the] middle and upper class. They don’t have the same financial security—it’s impacting their health care and will impact it in the future as the pandemic grows.”

“If people don’t have jobs, they can’t afford to put anything towards the procedure and have to pinch pennies to get by. We have to get people their health care access, and abortion is health care,” O’Brien said.

Because of the increased need Yellowhammer is seeing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has increased the amount of funding they provide callers and implemented a gift card program to provide more support. The gift cards will be mailed to clients and can be used anywhere, because, O’Brien said, limiting people to gas or groceries could increase the barriers they’re experiencing, and not everyone has access to a debit card or state-issued ID.

The Northwest Abortion Access Fund (NWAAF) was already seeing a high number of callers in January, something board member Nilofar Ganjaie said normally would have decreased by now. They’ve had to make changes to accommodate the skyrocketing demand by callers concerned they won’t be able to have an abortion during the pandemic.

People seeking abortion care in Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska can call NWAAF’s 24/7 hotline, and  volunteers call back to assist with the cost of abortion and related travel and lodging. But because of concerns about spreading COVID-19, instead of volunteers opening their homes or driving patients to their appointments, NWAAF is reserving hotel rooms and booking transportation through rideshare apps to limit physical contact. Ganjaie pointed out the safety precautions rideshare companies have taken, adding that their organization is screening volunteers and callers for COVID-19 symptoms.

NWAAF has also struggled with providing food assistance during the COVID-19 outbreak. “We provide grocery delivery, and because delivery services are backed up three to five days, we’ve been having volunteers—and even our board of directors—deliver no-contact groceries or takeout to callers. We drop it off to where the person is staying and leave it on their doorstep,” Ganjaie told Rewire.News.

NWAAF has updated its hotline database so that it allows “hotline advocates to indicate if a caller is experiencing any additional barriers or hardship to access[ing] abortion due to the COVID-19 outbreak,” like if they need financial assistance because they’ve lost their job, or if the situation has made it harder to get to the clinic.

“Our purpose for tracking data is to adjust our plan, [because] we want to start collecting this information immediately so we can pivot [as an organization] as needed. We want to do what we can to shift our budget and allocate our money [to people seeking abortions],” Ganjaie said.

The organization also plans to provide funding assistance to people seeking abortion care in states outside the Northwest where Republican officials have suspended abortions.

Sarah Lopez, program coordinator for Fund Texas Choice (FTC), an organization that provides logistical support to Texans needing abortions, told Rewire.News that while people traveling out of state for care usually do so because of gestational limits, FTC has recently heard from people of “varying gestational ages” needing to travel because of canceled appointments. Access in Texas is already severely limited after a sweeping anti-abortion law shut down over half the state’s clinics, leaving some people 300 miles from the nearest provider.

“As of last week we haven’t been able to purchase bus tickets, but we’re still able to book flights, help with gas, and book whichever remaining hotels are open,” Lopez said. “The major effects of the crisis were kicked into full gear this week, as clinics were forced to cancel appointments. I’ve been doing my best to keep folks at ease and prepare them for out-of-state travel by maintaining that if they need to travel even further to reach a clinic, we will still help them get there.”

Lopez said she’s angry the state is using the COVID-19 outbreak as an opportunity to “politicize health care,” but she’s “feeling so much solidarity” with her partner organizations and clinics.

“I know that it feels harder than ever to access abortion care right now, but I want folks to know that they’re not alone and they have a whole community of people rallying behind them to make sure access isn’t pushed entirely out of reach.”

Source: https://rewire.news/article/2020/03/27/paying-for-an-abortion-was-already-hard-the-covid-19-economic-downturn-has-made-it-even-harder/

 

March 27, 2020

Center Files Emergency Lawsuit in Texas to Protect Essential Abortion Access During Pandemic

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The Center for Reproductive Rights has filed an emergency lawsuit against the Governor of Texas and other state officials to ensure that patients can access essential, time-sensitive abortion care during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the lawsuit, the Center joins Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Lawyering Project in representing a group of Texas abortion providers.

Earlier this week, after Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order requiring the 30-day postponement of all surgeries and procedures not deemed immediately medically necessary, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a press release singling out abortion providers and interpreting the order to include “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother.” As a result of the ensuing confusion created by the Attorney General’s statement, Texas providers have had to turn away dozens of patients and cancel hundreds of appointments, preventing patients from accessing essential care.

“It’s unconscionable that the Texas Attorney General is exploiting this pandemic to end abortion in the state,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Abortion care is time-sensitive and essential health care that has a profound impact on a person’s health and life, which is why it is protected as a constitutional right. Texas is abusing the state’s emergency powers and we are filing suit to stop it.”

The lawsuit claims that the executive order and the Attorney General’s interpretation of it are unconstitutional since they impose a de facto ban on abortion. Plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order and ultimately a permanent injunction against the executive order and its interpretation. The lawsuit asserts, “By selectively burdening patients’ fundamental right to abortion without justification and singling abortion providers and their patients out for differential treatment from providers of other medical services and their patients, the Executive Order and corresponding Attorney General interpretation and the Emergency Rule, as enforced, violate Texans’ right to equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

According to medical experts including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, abortion is an essential, time-sensitive procedure, and delaying this care could “profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.”

The state of Texas has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country as well as one of the country’s highest rates of uninsured residents.

Source:  https://reproductiverights.org/story/center-files-emergency-lawsuit-texas-protect-essential-abortion-access-during-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR1dmqF4ajDigCxV5CyTerhPry4pftxtYzVlch2cpRVMxzGR_POaPJKJdQc

 

March 26, 2020

Here’s How Ohio Women Legislators Are Working to Keep Abortion Clinics Open

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Last weekend, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost ordered Ohio reproductive health clinics to cease providing abortions—claiming that abortion services are not “essential” medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Ohio state House Representative Tavia Galonski—chair of the Ohio Women’s Democratic Legislative Caucus—first heard the news, she felt rage.

“It is not the job of the state to take away women’s agency,” Rep. Tavia Galonski—a long-time advocate for women’s rights—told Ms. Pictured: Galonksi in September 2019 co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to shield crisis counselors from being forced to testify. (WSOU)

“Now is not the time to overturn the U.S. Constitution in the middle of a pandemic,” she said.

After his announcement, Attorney General Yost faced immediate pushback from abortion rights advocates and pro-choice state legislators.

Following a round of intense negotiations, Ohio clinics remain open.

Ohio’s Clinics Stay Open in the Midst of the Coronavirus Confusion

The clinics are closely complying with current state recommended medical guidelines for all procedures—including taking steps to reduce the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), one of Yost’s cited concerns about abortions continuing amidst the pandemic.

Planned Parent of Greater Ohio said in a March 24 statement:

“Our doors remain open. There has been some confusion in coverage over abortion access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Planned Parenthood is in full compliance with the Ohio Department of Health orders and continues to operate while responsibly using personal protective equipment during this pandemic crisis.

“Abortion is a time-sensitive and essential medical service. Ohioans can continue to rely on us for safe, legal, surgical abortions.”

Galonski and other abortion advocates maintain that unlike elective surgeries, access to safe reproductive care can’t be delayed. They say abortions are time-sensitive for health reasons—as some women have medical conditions that can make each additional day of a pregnancy life-threatening—and some states prohibit abortions beginning as early as 20 weeks into a pregnancy.

“When you’re talking about a medical issue that’s so complex, you just cannot have the state playing a heavy-handed role in this,” Galonski told Ms. “It is a gigantic abuse of power. It is not the job of the state to take away women’s agency.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has also recommended that abortion not be included in the list of medical procedures that could potentially be postponed.

Galonski feels medical decisions limiting access to abortion should be made by medical experts—not politicians.

“It must remain a medical decision with medical guidance from a provider,” she said. “I am not a doctor. Mr. Yost is not a doctor. We cannot pretend to practice medicine all for the sake of our own political opinions.”

While Galonski understands the importance of conserving vital medical supplies for the emergency response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, she sees Yost’s original decree as an opportunistic political move to ban abortion in Ohio completely.

“Once we started to dive into his order, what we found out was that the abortion clinics were more than prepared to make available [personal protective equipment],” she said. “They were more than happy to conform with the medical guidance given—so it wasn’t necessary for Yost to come in with that heavy hand on top of all it and say, ‘You guys need to close.’”

Rep. Galonski and her colleagues in the Ohio state legislature have been working closely with abortion care providers and advocacy groups like Planned Parenthood Ohio and NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio in response to the attorney general’s order. Rep. Galonski was tapped to take the lead on the response in the state legislature—alongside co-chair Rep. Kristen Boggs and policy chair Rep. Alison Russo.

“Just because it is a pandemic doesn’t mean that you can just make wholesale sweeping decisions and take away everything that people have known under the Supreme Court,” said Galonski. “It took a bunch of people coming together to say no, and to say it in the best kind of way, and really to let people know that we’re still at work.”

“The women’s caucus is at work every day during all of this, and we’re watching,” she continued. “We’re awake … We’re at work, and the answer is no.”

Galonski asserts that Yost’s weekend declaration created more confusion at a time when there is already an overabundance of misinformation related to public health and the response to COVID-19.

Yost’s order also suggested that clinics aren’t already adhering to best practices, she said—even though there is no evidence of clinics not following the strict guidelines in place for medical practitioners and facilities. She also pushes back against the idea of abortion being deemed non-essential.

“The people who need an abortion or who are going in to speak with an abortion provider—nothing about what they’re doing is elective. To try to be reductive and to suggest that this is the same as whether or not I’m going to have a root canal tomorrow is missing the point: No matter how you come down on the issue, it should not be the state directing what women do with our bodies,” Galonski said. “We have to have our own agency.”

Texas, Louisiana and Others Attempt to Follow Ohio’s Lead

In the wake of Ohio’s move to restrict abortion access, state leaders like Gov. John Bel Edwards in Louisiana and Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas have used the pandemic to suspend abortions outright—and Nebraska may be the next state to pass a similar decree.

And breaking these edicts comes with a steep price: In Texas, “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother” can result in penalties up to $1,000 or up to 180 days of jail time.

Louisiana’s few remaining abortion clinics have temporarily suspended abortion care for the time being.

“Any state that decides to do this—that makes me very sad,” said Galonski. “We have this [pandemic] going on, and we need to be … trying to help people through this crisis—not creating new ones. We don’t have to be our worst selves during the middle of this tragedy; we can actually rise above all of it and focus more on what people need during the pandemic instead of creating additional burdens because you believe this is a great time to do it.”

Galonski is prepared to fight to secure abortion access in Ohio.

“We’re going to fight,” she said. “We’re not going to take this.”

Still have questions?

Source: https://msmagazine.com/2020/03/24/heres-how-ohio-women-legislators-are-working-to-keep-abortion-clinics-open/?fbclid=IwAR2TxVkw91OnRpgNaAdy89lyvwiJ5CsVCHbQL5Be-hZQ7KKTJ3ygXP09xPM

 

March 25, 2020

Abortion care is not ‘elective.’ providers scramble to provide access during pandemic

Posted by laurasmith20200 under Abortion Information | Tags: , , |
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The growing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every facet of American life, shuttering schools and businesses, causing the economy to grind to a halt, overwhelming hospitals, and decimating once-thriving industries. Something the new coronavirus won’t do, according to providers and clinic directors, is stop their patients from accessing abortion care.
But efforts are already underway to paint abortion as “elective” and “nonessential” health care. On Saturday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) ordered clinics in the state to halt abortions, going against the recommendations of medical professionals. Still, clinics and physicians have continued to provide abortion care despite the order. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) followed suit, ordering a ban on abortions in the state unless the life of the pregnant person is threatened.
In the week leading up to Ohio and Texas’ executive orders, abortion providers presciently expressed their concern that some lawmakers would use the pandemic as an opportunity to further restrict abortion care—and abortion access is already being strained as the full force of the novel coronavirus is unleashed across the United States. Prism spoke to OB-GYNs, clinic directors, and abortion funders from Washington state to Maine to learn more about the concerns of their patients, the challenges providers are facing, and the strategies they’re developing to continue providing abortion care.
‘Oh, shit. This feels totally different.’
In early March, the first person in North Carolina tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Calla Hales, director of A Preferred Women’s Health Clinic (APWHC) in Charlotte, North Carolina, said that in the days since, “it’s a whole new reality.”
“Ever since there were reported cases in North Carolina, there has been no way to have a solid plan. Things are shifting from day to day. You go to bed and you don’t know what the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] will tell you in the morning,” Hales said. “I feel like all of us had that moment where it was like, ‘Oh, shit. This feels totally different.’ We heard for so long that this wasn’t a big deal, and then it was a pandemic.”
In North Carolina, existing restrictions already make accessing abortion a challenge. For example, a person must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage them from having an abortion, and then wait 72 hours before they can access care.
“There are restrictions and then there’s just general life issues that come into play when you’re trying to receive abortion care, like the cost, transportation, logistics, and finding child care. Child care has always been a huge issue for people trying to access care and now schools are closed,” Hales said.
According to the providers who spoke to Prism, continuing to offer abortion care is their primary concern, along with reducing any risk of contracting the virus. Many clinics are implementing new safety measures in the face of COVID-19. APWHC and other clinics have started to stagger their appointments and increase their already stringent cleaning protocols, and staff will now be gloved between patient interactions. Clinics are also rearranging waiting rooms to create more “barrier spaces” and removing chairs so there is more distance between patients. Some safety measures will have a more direct effect on patients’ experiences. Like many health centers, clinics offering abortion care now ask patients not to bring companions with them to the clinic waiting room. APWHC has also added a pre-appointment screening call to their process as a way of learning if a person has any COVID-19 symptoms.
While Hales and her staff are doing everything they can to calm patients’ fears, she told Prism there are some questions she doesn’t have answers for.
“I’ve had patients ask what happens if they change their mind and keep the pregnancy, they want to know what happens [to the fetus] if they get coronavirus. Patients have asked if coronavirus causes miscarriage. It’s such a kick in the teeth that I can’t give them an answer. Because we don’t know, and I’m saying that as someone who is pregnant right now,” Hales said. “I’ve also been asked what happens if you show up to a clinic and you’re exhibiting symptoms and have to quarantine. Abortions are time-sensitive and the longer you have to wait, the more the possibility that the price and the options available change.”
As patients continue to seek out abortion care, increased testing for COVID-19 has revealed cases are exploding nationwide and states, cities, and counties are preparing for the inevitable hospital overcrowding and supply shortages. APWHC’s four locations in North Carolina and Georgia are feeling the squeeze of shortages of personal protective equipment like face masks and disposable gloves. Hospitals are receiving priority for these items, leaving clinic directors like Hales scrambling to find alternate sources.
Patients going to APWHC in Charlotte, North Carolina, also have to contend with the dozens of anti-abortion protestors who congregate outside of Hales’ clinic on a daily basis. On Saturdays, the number of protestors easily rises to hundreds. They yell on loudspeakers, jump in front of cars, and generally harass patients. Even after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) banned gatherings of more than 100 people, Hales reported on social media that anti-abortion protestors were still showing up en masse. In fact, protestors seem to be encouraging protest during—and in spite of—the pandemic.
“I wish I could say that [the] pandemic scares people away, but Governor Cooper said there should be no gatherings over a hundred people and there were 151 protesters out on Saturday [March 14]—and that’s actually kind of small for us on a Saturday. We had protesters out [on March 16] that were sticking their heads in cars and holding babies on the sidewalk,” Hales said.
Telemedicine abortion: A game changer
Telemedicine could make abortion more accessible and eliminate potential exposure to COVID-19 while enabling people to maintain a safe social distance. As Christine Grimaldi reported for Vice, telemedicine would enable providers to prescribe abortion pills from a distance, but “longstanding federal regulations require that clinics dispense mifepristone, one of the two drugs commonly used together in medication abortions, in person—meaning the drugs can’t be picked up at a pharmacy or sent in the mail.” This means that while a patient can take their medication at home, they can’t get it without leaving their home. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 18 states “require the clinician providing a medication abortion to be physically present during the procedure, thereby prohibiting the use of telemedicine to prescribe medication for abortion remotely.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, states like Texas are lifting restrictions on telemedicine, but they are not including abortion in their “emergency adoption” of the technology. Clinic directors and abortion providers told Prism that being able to utilize telemedicine abortion at any time, but especially during a pandemic, would be a “game changer.” As Grimaldi reported for Vice, telehealth and telemedicine abortion can take various forms. “Clinics that practice telehealth may text their patients with instructions before their abortion, whatever type it may be, and with follow-ups after. Under a telemedicine model, medication abortion patients may video conference with perhaps the only provider able to serve multiple clinics across several states,” Grimaldi wrote.
Nurse Leah Coplon uses telehealth for abortion and can attest to the difference it makes. Coplon is the program director at Maine Family Planning, where she runs the clinic’s abortion services. Maine is just one of a handful of states that offers telemedicine abortion. When Coplon spoke to Prism on March 16, Maine had 31 cases of the coronavirus. As of today, it’s more than 100.
“We have a pretty robust telehealth system with medication abortions throughout our state,” Coplon said. “As [much as] possible, we want to limit how much contact patients and staff need to have. If a patient absolutely knows when their last period was, if they don’t have any contraindications, if they are within the gestation that is safe to do a medication abortion, then we don’t need to do an ultrasound. We don’t need to do lab testing. We are actually able to do all of the informed consent pieces via a telehealth video conference prior to their arrival. Then we can actually just pass them the medications, be available to them over the phone if they need us, and do a follow-up via telehealth.”
Maine Family Planning provides medication-based abortions at 18 of their facilities throughout the rural state, and since telehealth patients typically only need to visit the clinic once, it drastically reduces their travel time and expenses.
Coplon said that clinic directors, abortion providers, and abortion funds nationwide are in communication with each other. They’re a “close-knit family,” she said, and trying to strategize about best practices during the coronavirus. The program director said that because of Maine Family Planning’s “unique experience with telehealth,” others have been reaching out for guidance.
“Folks from other states are reaching out to talk about ways they may be able to provide care for their patients, they want to know how we can collaborate or learn from each other,” Coplon said. “I think people are really recognizing the gravity of this situation. They want to make sure that we ensure that people can get abortions who want them. It’s actually the bright side of all of this. Abortion providers care so deeply about patients. That’s really being highlighted right now. What’s paramount to them is making sure people get the care they need.”
Abortion is not elective
Coplon is referring to providers like Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, a board-certified OB-GYN and the only actively practicing abortion provider who lives in her Texas community and provides care to the legal limit, which is 20 weeks. When Moayedi spoke to Prism, she was at home with her young child because daycares and schools in the area are closed. Both Moayedi and her partner are physicians caring for vulnerable populations and the pandemic is hitting them hard. Complicating matters further, Moayedi’s mother, who often provides backup child care, is stuck in Iran due to COVID-19.
As a Texas resident and abortion provider, Moayedi has seen how natural disasters highlight the urgency to remove the state’s targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws, which are intended to close abortion clinics through medically unnecessary state-level regulations, like requiring clinics to be outfitted like miniature hospitals. During a pandemic, the doctor said, laws like these “have the potential to harm even more people than they already do.”
But TRAP laws don’t just stop at the clinic building. Texas also has a mandatory in-person follow-up for medical abortion, which Moayedi says isn’t needed.
“This means that rather than providing medical abortion without any in-person contact, which is safe, effective, evidence-based, and would be the ideal option in the setting of a pandemic, we’re instead requiring [providers] to see people three times,” the OB-GYN said, noting that Texas also continues to a ban telemedicine abortion.
“I already see patients every week who drive hundreds of miles for abortion, but encouraging or requiring long distance travel for health care during a pandemic doesn’t make any sense, and it’s dangerous,” Moayedi said.
The Texas provider told Prism that some advocates are worried that during the pandemic, it’s “risky” to even have public conversations about the laws that force people seeking abortion care to make multiple visits to the clinic.
“The fear is that rather than actually loosening these restrictions, it might go the other way and prompt states to further restrict abortion,” Moayedi told Prism. “I definitely understand [the fear], but we have to be bold. We have to be brave. We have to stand up for the people that we serve. There is nothing but fear right now and so we have to act. Our actions should be guided by our mission.”
Nationally, there is growing concern that more state officials will take a cue from Ohio and Texas and pounce on the opportunity to further restrict abortion care by deeming it “elective.” Moayedi said calling abortion care “elective” is an “age-old argument,” though it’s an especially dangerous one now that hospitals nationwide are canceling nonemergency and elective procedures as they prepare for a spike in coronavirus cases.
Providers know that abortions are time-sensitive, that they are not elective, and that people seeking them need immediate care. But coronavirus may force a conversation in each state about whether abortion is elective and providers are justifiably nervous about where things will land.
Moayedi anticipates there will be “conflicts” during the pandemic at every single hospital or institution that provides abortion care as they weigh whether resources should be used for abortion. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other medical organizations released a statement making it clear that obstetric and gynecological procedures for “which a delay will negatively affect patient health and safety should not be delayed.”
“To the extent that hospital systems or ambulatory surgical facilities are categorizing procedures that can be delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, abortion should not be categorized as such a procedure,” the statement read.
‘Open and providing care’
Few understand the importance of continuing to provide care during a pandemic quite like Dr. Melissa Paulen, an OB-GYN and a University of Washington family planning fellow who provides abortion care throughout the Seattle area. Until relatively recently, Washington was considered the coronavirus epicenter in the United States.
Paulen told Prism she feels supported in continuing to provide abortion care through the pandemic, especially because when Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced new restrictions on nonurgent medical procedures, Paulen’s department chair made it clear that abortion care was not going to be treated as “elective.” Generally, the OB-GYN said one of her biggest concerns is misinformation circulating that hinders people from accessing care.
“I want to make it very clear that abortion does not fall under the category of ‘elective.’ I want people to know that abortion providers, both independent clinics and those housed in other institutions, are open and providing care,” Paulen said. “We are going to do everything possible to make sure patients are still able to receive the abortion care they need. It would take the governor or the president telling us we need to shut down, and even then it would be a fight.”
This was echoed by Dr. Laura Sienas, also a Seattle-based board certified OB-GYN, who told Prism that her hospital is one of the “first line responders” for COVID-19 patients, and it continues to provide abortion care.
Sienas is a maternal fetal medicine specialist who specializes in high-risk obstetric care. Because maternal fetal medicine doctors are usually concentrated in larger cities, patients often have to travel across the state to see her, especially because there are limited providers of second trimester procedures in her state. As many other providers have noted, Sienas said that the pandemic and its requirement of social distancing has shone a “giant spotlight” on all of the barriers that pregnant people experience trying to access abortion care.
“Abortion is an essential part of health care. Unfortunately, it’s often not treated that way,” Sienas said. “Now more than ever, if people are financially able, it’s a great time to donate to abortion funds, especially funds that help people travel long distances for abortions. Those funds are going to become so important as maybe smaller clinics are forced to reduce care during the pandemic.”
‘Abortion matters just as much’
Every clinic director and abortion provider who spoke to Prism discussed the importance of donating to abortion funds in this moment. Not only has the Trump administration worked diligently to dismantle abortion rights and attack abortion funding, but Republican elected officials are now attempting to use the pandemic to further restrict care, as we’ve seen in Ohio and Texas. This is also happening federally. As Rewire.News reported, amid negotiations over a proposed federal coronavirus relief package comes “the White House’s reported insistence that the federal response to a rapidly growing pandemic include ‘Hyde Amendment’ language to ban federal funding of abortion.” The Hyde Amendment bans federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment.
Abortion funders are already reporting the impact that COVID-19 has had on their fundraising efforts.
Ariella Messing is a doctoral candidate in bioethics and health policy who is writing her dissertation on abortion funds. She is also a volunteer and fundraiser with the Baltimore Abortion Fund (BAF). Each spring, abortion funds nationwide roll out their fundraising campaign, known as the fund-a-thon, and they each set goals for how much money they will raise. BAF, for example, set a goal for $60,000, but Messing made it clear they could use “many multiples of that.” These fundraisers provide a substantial chunk of each fund’s budget for the year and just a few large checks can make “all the difference in the world,” Messing said.
BAF provides financial assistance to people who live in Maryland or are traveling to Maryland for abortion care. Maryland and the Washington metro area are home to two of the East Coast’s four clinics that provide later abortion beyond 24 weeks, which can cost as much as $10,000. BAF provides just a portion of that funding for their patients, and the rest often comes by way of pledges from abortion funds across the country.
“Because of the pandemic, if people can’t get the abortion they need now, more people will have to travel to Maryland for later abortion at the two clinics here that offer it. That means we’ll need thousands and thousands of dollars more because people couldn’t get the care they needed when they needed it. It feels very bleak,” Messing said.
The doctoral candidate told Prism it simply “feels hard” asking people for money right now, given that so many are now out of work or on the verge of losing their jobs and their homes. The problem is that abortion funds’ inability to fundraise now impacts people seeking abortion care for the rest of the year, and COVID-19 has essentially significantly disrupted people’s ability to access care in a timely manner.
This is reflected in the online postings of pregnant people who have upcoming appointments for abortion care. As co-founder and co-director of the Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS), a group of volunteers who organize to ensure every post on Reddit asking for help with an abortion experience gets an accurate response, Messing said that people appear deeply concerned about how the pandemic will impact their ability to access care. In the last week or so, Reddit has been flooded with posts about COVID-19, including posts from people concerned that their packages containing abortion pills may not come in the mail. Aid Access, one of the only organizations that provide telemedical abortion services to pregnant people, is currently unable to mail the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol because their pharmacy is in India.
All signs point to COVID-19 being a “disaster for abortion access,” Messing said. But providers nationwide are committed to providing care through the pandemic—and for pregnant people who want to access care, that’s a bright spot during an otherwise terrifying time.
“I truly understand that there are life and death problems right now, but abortion matters just as much,” Messing said. “There are people going to the clinic each day risking exposure so that other people can get an abortion. To me, that’s heroic.”
 

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