Roxanne Sutocky

By: Clare Busch
July 17, 2020

On June 29, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring doctors who perform abortions to also have the ability to admit and treat patients at a local hospital. The same day, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a new mandatory 24-hour waiting period between consulting with a physician and having an abortion. Other state legislatures are back at work enacting new barriers on accessing abortion.

While abortion clinics prepare to navigate additional legal restrictions on patients’ reproductive rights, workers are also navigating how to safeguard patients’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across the country, anti-abortion activists have flouted CDC guidelines by not wearing masks when they protest clinics and exploit new distancing protocols to increase patient harassment.

Continued: https://therealnews.com/columns/anti-abortion-protesters-exploit-clinics-covid-19-safety-precautions-to-harass-patients

‘Constantly Preparing for the Next Crisis’: How Independent Abortion Clinics Are Faring With COVID-19
“Patients think clinics are closed; there is increased panic due to patient’s fear of being turned away.”

Apr 3, 2020
Sarah Anne Lloyd

Independent reproductive health-care clinics are still largely allowed to operate, even in cities and states with COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, but the outbreak is straining an already precarious situation.

“What we’re seeing is the barriers that already exist for access to abortion being compounded by the current crisis in a way that it is limiting people’s resources significantly,” said Roxanne Sutocky, director of community engagement at the Women’s Centers, which operates independent clinics in four states. And people most at risk of losing health-care services, including people of color, will be the among the most vulnerable during this pandemic.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/04/03/constantly-preparing-for-the-next-crisis-how-independent-abortion-clinics-are-faring-with-covid-19/

USA – Anti-Abortion Protesters Exploit Clinics’ COVID-19 Safety Precautions To Harass Patients

USA – ‘Constantly Preparing for the Next Crisis’: How Independent Abortion Clinics Are Faring With COVID-19