If the patient can’t get an abortion at a clinic in their home state, they have three choices.
Option No. 1: Travel. Traveling out-of-state to obtain an abortion can be costly, from the procedure itself to travel, lodging, childcare and lost wages from missed work. Additional barriers for some vulnerable patients include immigration status and disabilities that make travel more treacherous.
Some abortion-supportive states are looking at using state dollars to help both residents and non-residents obtain abortion care regardless of the Supreme Court’s final decision. Oregon lawmakers established a $15 million Reproductive Health Equity Fund this spring to provide grants to local organizations to help pay for the procedure, and California is considering similar legislation.
States could also require health plans to cover abortion care, use state dollars to cover abortions and abortion-related travel for people on Medicaid, or allow nurse practitioners and physician assistans to perform abortions, as Connecticut and Maryland recently did.
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