A year ago in June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which provided women with protections when seeking an abortion.
Since then, at least 13 states have passed near total bans on abortion and at least a dozen states have significantly restricted access to the procedure.
What effect has this had on states like Nevada, where abortion remains legal up to 24 weeks?
Nevada Public Radio spoke with Nevada Congresswoman Susie Lee and the executive director of Nevada ACLU, Athar Haseebula, both of whom support access to abortion care.
According to Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which oversees clinics in Southern Nevada, they saw an immediate increase in the number of people traveling to Nevada for abortion care, mostly from Arizona and Texas. More are coming in from Idaho and Utah. Those numbers will continue to increase.
Will the increased wait time also means women must further delay obtaining the procedure?
“Absolutely,” said Lee. “First of all, it’s putting an undue burden on women to exercise their fundamental health care," she said.
Not only that, but Lee said it is putting an additional burden on Nevada’s health care system. In this past year, Nevada saw an increase of 37% in abortions. This is also having a significant effect on Nevada’s healthcare system, which is already overburdened because of its lack of health care providers.
“We actually rank 45th in the nation for active physicians per 100,000 residents,” said Lee. “Not only that, but Las Vegas also consistently ranks at the top of metropolitan areas that are at risk of an OB-GYN shortage. Southern Nevada would need 90 additional OB-GYNs to catch up with the national average."
A recent Axios report showed that overall abortions nationwide during this past year had decreased by 3%.
“That right, women are not forgoing the procedure. Right now, women must wait and sometimes they’re waiting with an incredible health risk. For a pregnancy that has progressed past 12 weeks, which, by the way, most women don’t even know they’re pregnant until that time, the average wait time is a month. Especially for women who have problems like an ectopic pregnancy [who] are dealing with life-threatening issues. It’s delaying care not only for women seeking an abortion, but it’s also delaying healthcare for women seeking OBGYN care … This is very personal to me,” said Lee, who has experienced several unsuccessful pregnancies.
In states where abortion is banned or very restricted, penalties can range significantly. In Texas, a person could be charged with a second-degree felony.
Haseebullah said he hasn't yet seen any cases this year where a woman has been charged with traveling to another state to obtain an abortion.
“In Texas, under the trigger ban that Gov. Abbott signed, doctors, in fact, could face life in prison," Haseebullah said. "In Mississippi, an abortion could be charged with 10 years in prison. In Idaho, Governor Brad Little just signed a law in April that actually banned interstate travel for an abortion."
He went on to give additional examples, explaining that civil suits are also surfacing.
“In Texas, a man filed a wrongful death suit against three women for helping his then-wife obtain pills to induce an abortion. That suit is seeking $1,000,000 from each of the three defendants,” he said.
Nevada’s new law essentially says Nevada will not cooperate with another anti-abortion access state seeking to prosecute. He said that does provide protection not only for women who have obtained an abortion, as well as for physicians who performed the procedure.
Lee added, “But with that, I pose a cautionary tale. We have been dealing with a rogue U.S. Supreme Court that doesn’t have any respect for precedent and jurisdictional aspects could also be a future consideration of theirs. We’re dealing with a court that doesn’t have any respect for precedent,” said Haseebullah. “And that’s why it was so important that Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto introduced the Freedom To Travel for Healthcare Act."
We have heard about doctors not willing to jeopardize their practice because of these new restrictions, which has had a significant effect on women facing complications. Several women have joined a lawsuit asking for clarification on what constitutes an emergency and defining when a doctor can intervene. One woman testified on Capitol Hill, telling lawmakers about her harrowing experience after her water broke at just 18 weeks. Doctors told her there was nothing they could do under the new abortion laws.
“My name is Amanda Zaraski, and I’m here to tell you a little bit about my experience with the Texas abortion laws," she testified. "People have asked why we didn’t travel to another state where the laws aren’t so restrictive. But we live in the middle of Texas and the nearest sanctuary state is an eight hour drive. Developing sepsis, a condition that can kill in a matter of an hour, in a car in the middle of the Texas desert or on an airplane, is a death sentence."
Three days later, she went into septic shock and that’s when doctors finally provided an emergency abortion.
“The preventable harm inflicted on me has already made it harder for me to get pregnant again. The barbaric restrictions are having real implications on real people. I may have been one of the first who was affected by the overturning of Roe, but I’m certainly not the last,” Zaraski said.
Is this an unintended consequence on the part of anti-choice activists? Both said causing confusion and chaos was probably a planned tactic.
Anti-choice activists have successfully been using very effective tactics. Another is via Crisis Pregnancy Centers. These centers are typically located very close to clinics that do provide abortion. Their tactic is to intercept women intent on obtaining an abortion. Ultimately, delaying the abortion until it’s too late.
Lee said in Nevada, there are seven such centers. These centers have not only been able to operate without any oversight, like religious centers, and therefore are exempted from licensing, infection control protocols and staff qualifications. This, despite some performing ultrasounds and providing women with what they think is medical advice. Several states have tried to impose requirements, but they are growing in number, especially in anti-choice states, which are even funding them.
“I certainly think the environment is right for this,” Lee said on if the centers would grow in number in Nevada.
Haseebulah said these anti-choice activists are also using “interceptor groups” that run call centers, essentially referring people to these centers.
According to Nevada Current, former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak had the Department of Health and Human Services populate the state’s website “Abortion Information for Nevadans” with a section called “Report Misleading Abortion Service Providers.” It described Crisis Pregnancy Centers as “organizations that seek to intercept women considering abortion.”
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo has had this section deleted.
The publication received an email confirmation from the governor’s spokesperson Elizabeth Ray, saying: “Governor Lombardo was concerned by the mischaracterization and the politicizing of crisis pregnancy centers on a government website. … Governor Lombardo believes that crisis pregnancy centers offer critical resources, support, and care for pregnant women in Nevada.”
Lee said she recently signed a discharge petition to force the House of Representatives to vote on legislation that would codify abortion protections for women across the country. A discharge petition is a procedure that allows a bill to be brought out of committee to the floor for consideration. Ultimately, however, she said it’s now in the hands of state lawmakers.
Haseebulah said from a political perspective, this can already be seen with more focus on down ballot races and state Supreme Court races.
“It’s so important to remember that this is a decision between a woman and her doctor. And it should not be legislated by politicians anywhere. Ultimately, this is a complicated situation. People chose to have abortions for any number of reasons and that choice should remain with them,” said Lee. “I personally will continue to do everything in my power to fight for a nationwide access to abortion.”
