Coronavirus Created an Obstacle Course for Safe Abortions – The New York Times

Anti-abortion governors in Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Alabama listed abortions as nonessential procedures, arguing that performing them would threaten supplies of medical resources and protective equipment in the midst of the pandemic.

The medical community pushed back, setting off a flurry of lawsuits to keep services running.

But some women ended up racing across state lines to avoid the new limitations. One traveled from Arkansas to Oklahoma to Kansas before she could terminate her pregnancy.

I firmly believe that this is a coordinated movement among the anti-abortion folks, said Julie Burkhart, founder and chief executive of Trust Women, which operates a clinic in Oklahoma City and another in Wichita, Kan. She noted that even before the pandemic, states that deemed abortion nonessential were debating legislation to curb access.

Her clinics, she said, saw a surge in the number of women seeking abortions, many of them coming in from other states. We saw, in one week, over 250 patients, she said, compared with the usual number of 40 patients per week per clinic.

Dr. Kanem, of the United Nations agency, said the approaches in the United States, where the debate over abortion was highly polarized, and in Europe, where governments failed to make womens health needs a priority, can both lead to terrible outcomes.

She added, Women and girls should not be shoved to the end of the line.

Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Monika Pronczuk reported from Brussels, and Alisha Haridasani Gupta from New York. Christopher Schuetze contributed reporting from Berlin.

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Coronavirus Created an Obstacle Course for Safe Abortions - The New York Times