{"id":1618,"date":"2024-11-12T11:52:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T11:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/12\/what-the-abortion-measures-from-election-day-mean-for-access-in-the-us\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T11:52:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T11:52:55","slug":"what-the-abortion-measures-from-election-day-mean-for-access-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retirednurseblog.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/12\/what-the-abortion-measures-from-election-day-mean-for-access-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"What the abortion measures from Election Day mean for access in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite a strong showing of support for abortion rights on Election Day, the abortion access landscape in the United States won\u2019t change immediately. And under President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, it will remain heavily fragmented \u2014 and vulnerable to future restriction. <\/p>\n

Voters in seven states \u2013 Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and New York \u2013 passed pro-abortion ballot initiatives at the polls this week. About a fifth of abortions in the US \u2013 an average of about 19,000 each month \u2013 occur in those states, according to data from the Society of Family Planning. <\/p>\n

In most of those states \u2013 Colorado, Maryland, Montana, Nevada and New York \u2013 abortion is already legal, and the ballot measures maintain access by enshrining the right to abortion in the state\u2019s constitution. <\/p>\n

In only two states did voters approve measures to expand abortion access: in Arizona, where there is currently a 15-week gestational limit, and in Missouri where abortion is currently banned. The measures in both states allow for the right to an abortion to be enshrined in the state constitutions up to fetal viability, which doctors say is around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. <\/p>\n

Still, what these new pathways will mean in terms of practical change for women seeking an abortion remains to be seen. <\/p>\n

Policy change takes time<\/h2>\n

However, \u201cadding constitutional protection does not automatically repeal bans or restrictions; litigation is often necessary to overturn pre-existing state laws,\u201d according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health that supports abortion rights. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood\u2019s two providers in Missouri filed a suit to restore abortion access in the state. <\/p>\n

Still, it will take time to ramp up resources to support broader access, experts say. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know how soon the clinics in the state will be able to expand their services, even after they receive the legal green light to extend their limits,\u201d said Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco\u2019s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health. <\/p>\n

There were no abortion providers in Missouri even before the Dobbs decision, so a new clinic would have to be established. But greater accessibility is \u201clikely to have important impacts,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, our best estimates are that about 13,000 people in Missouri are obtaining abortions per year \u2013 either through out-of-state travel or by ordering medications through telehealth services,\u201d said Upadhyay, who also co-chairs #WeCount, a project from the Society of Family Planning that tracks abortion trends in the US. \u201cSo there is certainly large amounts of unmet need for abortion care in the state of Missouri.\u201d <\/p>\n

The impact in Arizona may not be as large when it comes to volume, but it\u2019s no less important, Upadhyay said. And expanding access there by scrapping the gestational limit could require time and resources to train more providers in second trimester abortions. <\/p>\n

More than 171,000 people traveled to a different state for an abortion last year, according to Guttmacher data, and expanded access in Arizona and Missouri could help reduce barriers for women living in other states. The vast majority of abortions provided in Arizona already were provided to out-of-state patients, and Missouri borders multiple states with bans. <\/p>\n

Broad restrictions remain<\/h2>\n

Even if the ballot measures in Arizona and Missouri improve access in those states, about 40% of women of reproductive age \u2013 more than 26 million women ages 15 to 44 \u2013 will still be living in states with abortion bans or restrictions. <\/p>\n

And pro-abortion measures failed to pass in three other states with restrictions: South Dakota, which currently has a near-total ban; Nebraska with a 12-week gestational limit; and Florida, where tighter policies have already reverberated across the broader region and country overall. <\/p>\n

Florida had become a key abortion access point for the South in the years since the US Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion in 2022; In 2023, more than 1 in 10 abortions in the US happened in Florida, with thousands of people traveling from other states, according to Guttmacher estimates. <\/p>\n

But when the state\u2019s more restrictive abortion policy took effect in May \u2013 limiting abortion after six weeks of gestation, before most women know they\u2019re pregnant \u2013 monthly abortions in Florida were cut by more than 30% and national abortion rates dipped, too. <\/p>\n

Advocates were hopeful that Tuesday\u2019s ballot measure would help patch some of the gaps that 6-week ban created, but the measure fell three percentage points short of the 60% support needed to pass. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike so many Americans, Floridians are living under an abortion ban they didn\u2019t ask for and don\u2019t want. As the majority of Florida voters made clear tonight, they want their reproductive freedom back,\u201d Nancy Northup, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group, said in a statement on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut due to the high 60% threshold and the state\u2019s disinformation campaign, they must continue to live with the fear, uncertainty, and denial of care caused by the reversal of Roe. So too will countless women in the southeastern U.S., which will remain for now a virtual abortion desert.\u201d <\/p>\n

Florida Physicians Against Amendment 4, a group of Ob-Gyns in Florida who opposed the ballot measure because they said it lacked \u201cmaternal health and safety regulations,\u201d called the proposal\u2019s defeat a \u201cwin for women.\u201c <\/p>\n

Now, we physicians can stay true to our Hippocratic oath to do no harm to our patients,\u201d Dr. Christina Pe\u00f1a, an Ob-Gyn practicing in Miami and member of the group said in a statement <\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, which helps cover costs for people seeking an abortion locally and those who have to travel, says that Florida\u2019s 6-week ban has led to a rise in the number of callers requesting aid \u2013 and a 26% jump in the average amount pledged per caller. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we and abortion funds around the state are doing our best to fill the gaps, the need is currently outpacing our resources,\u201d Bree Wallace, Tampa Bay Abortion Fund\u2019s director of case management said in a statement this week. \u201cWithout financial support, people can\u2019t afford their appointments or to travel to their appointments, forcing them to continue pregnancies they don\u2019t want or that put them at risk.\u201d <\/p>\n

Key vulnerabilities<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not clear what a new Trump administration\u2019s strategy will be around abortion. Trump said during the campaign that he would veto a federal abortion ban if elected, but his positions on the issue have shifted many times over the years. <\/p>\n

Despite the widespread bans and restrictions enacted by more than 20 states in the years since Dobbs, the number of abortions in the US is trending up. But a key factor driving these numbers up \u2014 the increased use of medication abortion, especially those provided through telehealth \u2014 is perhaps the most vulnerable to significant change. <\/p>\n

More than half of all abortions in the US are medication abortions, and about 1 in 5 women who have an abortion receive their pills through the mail. This spring, about half of all telehealth abortions \u2014 or about 1 in 10 abortions overall \u2014 were provided to women living in states with abortion bans or restrictions under shield laws, #WeCount data shows. Shield laws offer some legal protections for providers who practice in some states where abortion remains legal to prescribe medication abortion drugs via telehealth to people living in states with bans or restrictions. <\/p>\n

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