COVID-19 Era Restrictions
Nearly a dozen states have leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to limit access to abortion services and shutter clinics. From a medical services standpoint, abortion could easily remain accessible throughout the pandemic without using vital hospital resources, but many politicians have worked to make access more difficult.[1] They claim that abortion is nonessential and that medical resources and PPE (personal protective equipment) needs to be redirected to other medical needs and services.[2] However, professional organizations, abortion providers, and advocacy groups have challenged this notion, stating that routine in-clinic abortion requires little protective equipment, and medication abortion requires none at all.[3] Additionally, according to experts and organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), abortion remains an essential and time-sensitive service during the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] As of May 2020, the states that have attempted to restrict access to abortion by deeming the procedure nonessential include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
Map showing which states have attempted to use COVID-19 to restrict access to abortions.
How do they affect low-income women and women of color?
The restrictions currently being implemented will exacerbate the hurdles low-income women go through, and delay access to timely care, thereby pushing individuals past the gestational limits for an abortion in many states and, ultimately, make abortion inaccessible.[5] In states where abortion bans are currently imposed, the options are for individuals to travel out of state for the procedure, continue the pregnancy and hope they will be able to access abortion care when the ban is no longer in place, attempt to self‐manage an abortion outside a formal medical setting, or carry the pregnancy to term.[6] In Texas, women travelled an average of 12 miles to reach the nearest clinic, but with the COVID-19 ban, they would have to travel an average of 243 miles to reach the nearest clinic in neighboring states.[7] The increased costs posed by additional travel will likely be a barrier to care, especially under the current circumstances, where economic obstacles are further compounded by a record high rate of unemployment and reductions in work hours, as well as loss (or lack) of health insurance.[8] Many women also struggle with finding the funds to cover the cost of travel and lodging, as well as finding childcare. The inability to end a pregnancy in a timely manner can increase the need for abortions at later gestation, which can twice as expensive and pose greater health risks than first-trimester abortions.[9] In this pandemic, Black and Latinx women are experiencing job loss at higher levels than their white counterparts.[10] This places them in greater danger of not having enough funds for travel or for the procedure itself.
References:
[1] Senderowicz, Leigh, and Jenny Higgins. "Reproductive Autonomy Is Nonnegotiable, Even in the Time of COVID-19." International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 46 (2020): 147-51. Accessed October 13, 2020. doi:10.1363/intsexrephea.46.2020.0147.
[2] Jones, Rachel K., Laura Lindberg, and Elizabeth Witwer. "COVID‐19 Abortion Bans and Their Implications for Public Health." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 52, no. 2 (2020): 65-68. doi:10.1363/psrh.12139.
[3] Senderowicz and Higgins, “Reproductive Autonomy.”
[4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9] Jones, Lindberg, and Witwer, “COVID‐19 Abortion Bans.”
[10] Modarressy-Tehrani, Caroline. "Women of Color Hardest Hit by Pandemic Joblessness." NBCNews.com. August 01, 2020. Accessed December 07, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/women-color-hardest-hit-pandemic-joblessness-n1235585.