As Some States Attempt To Ban Abortions Amid The Coronavirus Outbreak, Others Experience An Increase In Demand

According to the Associated Press, some states are looking to ban abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the demand has increased tremendously in areas where the procedure remains available from women desperate in times of uncertainty.

Many clinics are also receiving patients who have traveled hundreds of miles from states that have banned the procedures amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Julie Burkhart, manager of abortion clinics in both Wichita, Kansas, and Oklahoma City, said, “The calls we’ve been getting are frantic. We’ve seen more women coming sooner than they would have because they’re scared they won’t be able to access the services later.” In fact, Burkhart’s clinic in Wichita saw a large increase in women from Texas, which contributed to their sharp rise in abortions. She reported that the clinic performed 252 abortions last month.

Such instances of long-distance travel include that of a teen who drove from Texas to Chicago with her mother, Dr. Allison Cowett of Family Planning Associates in Chicago reports. In Atlanta, Dr. Marissa Lapedis revealed how her clinic was able to assist a woman who received her initial abortion consultation in Texas but was denied her follow-up visit to receive the abortion pill. The young woman flew to Georgia to obtain the pill.

The demand will continue to grow as the pandemic continues to grip the nation, according to Dr. Jen Villavicencio, an abortion provider in Michigan.

“I hear it in my patient’s voices and questions daily. They’re worried about how they will make their rent, feed their family, access a ventilator if the need arises,” She said via email.

Planned Parenthood in New York City, the nation’s largest abortion provider, in an effort to minimize travel and potential COVID-19 exposure for patients and staff, has altered how they distribute abortion medication by expanding telemedicine and limiting office visits.

“We provided a medication abortion to an EMT while she was sitting in her ambulance,” Dr. Meera Shah, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, revealed. “We provided abortion care to a mother who was at home with her children running around behind her.”

Dr. Anne Davis, an OB-GYN at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, said that one of the greatest challenges is unpredictability when it comes to counseling pregnant women.

“We don’t know enough about this to say it’s going to be fine — your pregnancy will proceed in usual fashion, and there will be no impact from COVID-19,” Davis explained. “They want us to say it will be alright. We have to say, ‘We don’t know.'”

In response to the bans, there is a push for new information regarding safe options for do-it-yourself abortions at home.

Many abortions are already induced at home with a two-drug combination, usually under the guidance of a health professional. Advocacy groups say that home abortions,  using only one of the drugs Misoprostol, can be done without a healthcare professional consultation.

Misoprostol is available by prescription only in the U.S. However, the drug can be obtained online from many countries who provide it over the counter.

Attorney Jill E. Adams, executive director of If/When/How, is urging prosecutors to refrain from taking legal action against women who use this method.

“More people will need abortions during this pandemic. Targeting people who end their pregnancies at home is wrong as a matter of law and dangerous as a matter of public health.”