[Post-Roe, providers and patients are working across state lines
and new legal barriers to provide and access abortion care.]
[[link removed]]

THE ACTIVIST OFFERING: THE OTHER FRONT LINE  
[[link removed]]


 

Steph Black
January 10, 2023
The Progressive
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Post-Roe, providers and patients are working across state lines and
new legal barriers to provide and access abortion care. _

A patient at Whole Woman's Health in Austin, Texas, (New Voices)

 

Abortion has always been a local issue.

For decades, the goal of the abortion access movement has been to get
pregnant people across the threshold of abortion clinic doorways.
Dozens of volunteer networks have been created to aid in this effort,
from abortion funds to make the procedure financially possible
to practical support collectives
[[link removed]] that
get patients to the clinic door, to clinic escorts who guide patients
through the crowds of protesters. The people who make abortion
possible deeply understand the importance of local politics that
reflect the needs of the community.

The overturning
[[link removed]] of _Roe
v. Wade_ last June was a wake-up call for many liberals who,
believing that abortion rights are inalienable, took their permanence
for granted. Almost everyone I’ve spoken to in the past few months
who identifies as pro-choice has echoed similar sentiments—they
can’t believe abortion is no longer a protected federal right.

But ask anyone on the front lines of the abortion movement—in the
South, in rural areas, in states controlled by Republicans—and they
will tell you that _Roe_ was doomed
[[link removed]] from
the start. What all of these communities have in common is that the
barriers to access abortion are local, and they are
far-reaching—extending well beyond the procedure’s legality and
the many anti-abortion laws that are on the books. They include
waiting periods, mandated propaganda, forced ultrasounds, and
other TRAP
[[link removed]] (Targeted
Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws.

The barriers are structural, too, including a lack of reliable public
transportation, deteriorating infrastructure, and the rising costs of
child care and fuel. These are all hyper-local matters that can
prevent someone from physically accessing abortion. Even
before Roe was overturned, nearly one in ten people obtaining an
abortion traveled across state lines
[[link removed]] for
care. The legality of abortion is decided by local politics.

What happens when local politics go further than just restricting
abortion, to outlawing abortion outright? Under threat of prosecution,
as of early October, sixty-six clinics across fifteen states have
been forced to stop providing abortion
[[link removed]],
and of those, twenty-six clinics were permanently closed. Just
thirteen clinics provide abortion care in those fifteen states, and
all of these are in Georgia, a state that is currently enforcing
[[link removed]] a
six-week abortion ban.

For Red State Access [[link removed]], local
politics are the heart of their work. Red State Access is a new
abortion organization that provides resources, primarily information
about abortion pills, to pregnant people seeking abortion care in
Republican-controlled states. Importantly, they note that it is
possible to access medication abortion pills even in states that have
outlawed abortion.

“Abortion access is confusing and restricted in red states,” Red
State Access board member Kelly Nelson tells _The Progressive_. “So
much is in the media about various bans that it is hard for those
close to the issue to stay on top of it, let alone people who aren’t
in abortion advocacy roles. There are various limitations around
gestation periods, full bans, or bans in certain circumstances. Some
have taken effect, and some are still pending. It’s confusing and
frightening.”

Given that almost one-third of women of reproductive age live in
states
[[link removed]] where
abortion is either unavailable or severely restricted, Red State
Access has become a lifeline for those seeking abortion care in the
South.

As of last February, medication for abortion accounted
[[link removed]] for
more than half of all types of abortions in the United States, a
figure that will likely continue to increase with the help of
organizations like Red State Access.

“We help pregnant people learn where they can receive support
through self-managed, medicated abortion,” says Jay, another Red
State Access board member who asked to be referred to by first name
only, due to privacy concerns. “We offer referrals to safe and
trusted medication sources internationally and domestically. We
believe knowledge is power, and knowledge of safe and effective
abortion medications belongs in the hands of those who need it.”

Red State Access works in a liminal space of legality. Although it
simply provides information to pregnant people, it can still face
legal risks for “aiding and abetting abortions” in states where
the procedure is not legal.

“While traditional abortion funds continue to provide access within
the letter of the law,” Nelson says, “a need arose to help those
where the law is immorally restrictive in their communities. We’re
helping provide people who are pregnant with the care they want.”

Since the early 2000s, Tammi Kromenaker had run the only abortion
clinic in North Dakota. At the Red River Women’s Clinic
[[link removed]] in Fargo, she was an island.

For years, she looked across
[[link removed]] the
Red River to Moorhead, Minnesota, as a place to open another location
to provide additional abortion care. “We knew the [_Dobbs v. Jackson
Women’s Health Organization
[[link removed]]_]
decision was coming; it seemed like the writing was on the wall,”
says Kromenaker, who signed the paperwork on the new building a day
before _Roe v. Wade_ was overturned.

While abortion technically remains legal in North Dakota, Kromenaker
says the difference between Minnesota and North Dakota is stark.

“Senator Amy Klobuchar called me, Senator Tina Smith came to visit,
Attorney General Keith Ellison came to visit. I’ve been on a Zoom
call with the governor and lieutenant governor of Minnesota. The
representative of the district the clinic is in has publicly stated
their support for abortion and for our clinic, has visited multiple
times, and wants to work proactively for abortion rights in the 2023
legislative session,” Kromenaker says. “I have been welcomed with
open arms.”

The differences, however, extend beyond public support from local
politicians. A zip code change has drastically altered how the clinic
provides day-to-day care for patients.

In North Dakota, state law dictates
[[link removed]] that abortion
medications cannot be used “off-label”—they can only be
prescribed according to their U.S. Food and Drug Administration
labels. This means that, despite medical research stating a drug’s
efficacy and safety, Kromenaker cannot dispense it to a North Dakota
patient who is at ten weeks plus one day of gestation, or give a
patient extra doses of misoprostol because it wasn’t on the label.

“In Moorhead, our doctor gets to look at her education and training
and make decisions rather than checking the law book first,”
Kromenaker says. In Minnesota, “we were able to give somebody a
ten-week and four-day medication abortion, which would not have been
possible in North Dakota. She had a trauma background and did not want
an exam, which she would have needed for a procedural abortion.”

For decades, Republican lawmakers have argued that it should be up to
the states and local constituencies to decide on abortion rights. They
accused the Supreme Court of judicial overreach in Roe v. Wade in
1973. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina,
recently introduced
[[link removed]] into
the Senate a federal bill to ban abortion at fifteen weeks. Yet 85
percent of U.S. voters believe
[[link removed]] abortion
should be legal in some or all circumstances.

We all have the ability to work to make abortion rights a reality by
volunteering to drive or escort patients to abortion clinics, donating
our dollars to abortion funds, and electing politicians who will
protect these rights. By seeing abortion as a local issue, we can make
sure that it is, in fact, genuine community care.

_Steph Black is an abortion activist and writer based in Washington,
D.C. She also writes a column, "The Activist Offering," for The
Progressive. Read her work at stephblackstrategies.com._

_Since 1909, The Progressive has aimed to amplify voices of dissent
and those under-represented in the mainstream, with a goal of
championing grassroots progressive politics. Our bedrock values are
nonviolence and freedom of speech.  We publish multiple stories
every day on our website, and also produce a bimonthly magazine
featuring investigative reporting, cultural and political analysis,
and poetry.  _

* _Donate [[link removed]]_

* abortion rights
[[link removed]]
* Reproductive Justice
[[link removed]]
* Roe v. Wade
[[link removed]]
* Dobbs v. Jackson
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]