August 2021
Miles to nearest clinic providing abortions after 6 weeks
Supply: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury School
As of Wednesday, Florida has banned abortion after six weeks of being pregnant. It should have far-reaching results.
In 2021, abortion was authorized in each state, and the common American girl lived lower than 25 miles from a clinic.
However after the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade, some states banned all or most abortions, together with many within the South.
Florida, North Carolina and Virginia have been the one states within the South providing abortion after six weeks of being pregnant. For six.4 million girls, the closest clinic was in Florida.
Now, that possibility is gone. Ladies in a number of states might want to journey tons of of miles farther to achieve a clinic.
It’s the greatest change to abortion entry because the interval instantly after the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“It is a seismic occasion for everybody within the ecosystem,” mentioned Jenny Black, the chief govt of Deliberate Parenthood South Atlantic, which operates in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. “It’s unimaginable to overstate the influence of this ban on abortion entry in the entire Southeast, most likely all up the Japanese Seaboard.”
Florida, in contrast to a lot of the South, has lengthy had many abortion clinics — greater than 50, unfold all through the state. The common Florida girl lives lower than 20 miles from one. Final yr, clinics in Florida offered round 86,000 abortions, behind solely California, New York and Illinois, in line with estimates from the Guttmacher Institute.
Of these, greater than 9,000 have been for sufferers who got here from different states, a part of an inflow after many Southern states banned or severely restricted abortion following the Supreme Courtroom’s choice in Dobbs v. Jackson Ladies’s Well being Group.
With few exceptions, girls throughout the South who’re past six weeks of being pregnant — earlier than many ladies know they’re pregnant — will now should journey a lot farther to a clinic for an abortion. Additionally, for round a decade, Florida has required two appointments 24 hours aside to get an abortion, making it tougher to obtain one earlier than the six-week mark. In different states, six-week bans have decreased abortions by about half.
“We’re hopeful that not solely will the numbers in Florida for abortions take a deep nosedive, but in addition it does have nationwide implications,” mentioned Andrew Shirvell, the founder and govt director of Florida Voice for the Unborn, a gaggle that lobbied the Legislature for the ban. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has mentioned he doesn’t need the state to stay an “abortion tourism vacation spot.”
Regardless of bans in 14 states, and restrictions in a number of others, the variety of authorized abortions nationwide is about the identical as earlier than Roe was overturned. Florida’s new ban might change that, researchers mentioned — an illustration of how regional abortion entry has develop into. Shutting down abortion entry in a single linchpin state, Florida, might cut back the variety of abortions throughout the whole area, whereas in swaths of the remainder of the nation, abortion has remained accessible, and in some locations has even develop into extra so.
The maps above present how the distances to the closest clinic have elevated for girls within the South who’re greater than six weeks pregnant, primarily based on information from Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury School, who has been measuring the results of abortion bans for years.
Ladies in Miami who’re past six weeks will now must journey greater than 700 miles to achieve the closest clinics — in Charlotte, N.C., the place state regulation requires two visits unfold over three days. The present wait time there’s a week or extra to get an appointment, in line with a latest survey of clinics led by Professor Myers. In any other case, girls would wish to journey farther, to clinics in Virginia or Washington, D.C.
Driving distances would additionally enhance by greater than 100 miles for girls in components of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.
% of girls within the South dwelling lower than 100 miles from a clinic providing abortions after 6 weeks
% of girls within the South dwelling greater than 300 miles from a clinic providing abortions after 6 weeks
Contains Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Measurements are for girls of reproductive age.
Supply: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury School
“That is going to be the largest change to abortion entry since Dobbs, and the influence is obvious: Extra persons are going to should journey additional distances if they’ve the monetary assets to take action, and many individuals shall be pressured to stay pregnant,” mentioned Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, govt director of Florida Entry Community, which helps girls in Florida pay for abortions and journey to clinics.
Clinic operators in North Carolina and Virginia say they’re making an attempt to increase capability, however are already struggling to satisfy demand. A number of clinics in these states are already reporting waits of two weeks for appointments, in line with Professor Myers’s survey and interviews with clinic staffers.
Many years of analysis present that, as driving distances to abortion clinics enhance, fewer girls acquire abortions. The typical seeker of an abortion is poor, and sometimes struggles to rearrange transportation, day without work from work, housing and youngster care to journey lengthy distances.
Driving Distances Now
Miles to nearest clinic providing abortions after 6 weeks
Supply: Caitlin Myers, Middlebury School
But there’s uncertainty in regards to the exact long-term results of the ban. The identical day the Florida Supreme Courtroom allowed the six-week restrict to enter impact, it additionally allowed a constitutional modification on abortion to look on the November poll. If the modification earns the assist of 60 % of voters, it’ll reverse the ban and shield abortion rights till about 24 weeks.
And in latest months, extra girls have been ordering abortion tablets via telemedicine. This consists of girls in states with bans, who order from clinicians in states with legal guidelines that defend them from out-of-state prosecution.
Such abortions might develop into extra widespread within the South. However some girls are unaware of the choice or uncomfortable managing an abortion with no close by medical supplier. Others are too far alongside of their pregnancies for the choice — abortion tablets are really helpful by the Meals and Drug Administration solely through the first 10 weeks of being pregnant.
Consequently, telemedicine is unlikely to interchange all of the abortions at the moment occurring in Florida. “I don’t suppose it signifies that everyone simply completely substitutes it for touring to a brick and mortar facility and seeing a supplier in individual,” Professor Myers mentioned.
