I Tried to Get an Abortion in a Blue State During the Pandemic. It Was Complicated.
The doctor told me to make a decision—they weren’t sure if they would even be able to offer abortions in the coming days. What if it became an elective procedure because of the virus?
April 13, 2020
Anonymous as told to Becca Andrews
A few weeks ago, a friend reached out to me because she had discovered she was pregnant and she was not sure if she could afford—physically, emotionally, or financially—to have another child. As we spoke that afternoon, COVID-19 was beginning to spread and she was pretty sure she wanted an abortion. Fortunately, that seemed like a fairly straightforward task; we live in California, which is known as a haven state for abortion access. But what unfolded after our first conversation, the barriers presented by health insurance, work, misinformation, and, yes, the coronavirus, show that even in such a place, barriers to care exist. While, of course, it’s still harder to get an abortion in a state like Texas, which is using the pandemic as an opportunity to ban most abortion care, it’s still important to remember that the issue of access goes beyond draconian laws and the number of clinics in any given state. This is her story, in her own words, lightly edited for length and clarity.
Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/abortion-access-coronavirus-california-complications/