This story was originally reported by Shefali Luthra by the 19thAnd re -published by the partnership of Rewire News Group with the 19th News Network.
A new federal law that would “defend” planned parenthood could substantiate the system that people have used to obtain abortions since the fall of Roe v. WadeThe disproportionate closing of the clinics in states that have become abortion paradises for people who have a forbidden life.
Supported by President Donald Trump, prohibits the spending law reproductive health clinics from invoicing services to Medicaid if they offer or are part of health networks that perform abortions, are non -profit organizations and receive more than $ 800,000 a year from the federal government. Although that part of the law has been blocked for the time being, Planned Parenthood is preparing for large financial losses that, unless new funds arise, can close health centers throughout the country, especially in states where abortion is legal and medicaid programs more robust.
The move is framed by politicians in the spectrum, anti-abortion activists and reproductive care providers, as an attempt to eliminate an important source of financing for planned parenthood, specifically. Abortion opponents have claimed this ‘defensive’ as their greatest victory since the decision of the Supreme Court of 2022 to fall Roe v. Wade And put an end to the federal abortion rights.
Currently, about a third of all income from Planned Parenthood comes from federal and national financing; Medicaid, the health insurance program for Americans with a low income, is the largest source. Medicaid insures 1 in 5 Americans, and it does not cover an abortion unless states assign their own specific funds to do this. But the program remains an important source of income for Planned Parenthood because it includes other services that patients can get in clinics such as testing for sexually transmitted diseases, breast investigations and contraception. If none of those services can invoice Medicaid, patients who are covered through the program must go somewhere else for health care – or just go without it.
A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that part of the law after a legal challenge by Planned Parenthood, who argued that it violates the freedom of expression of the American Constitution and the correct process protection. A hearing in the case will take place later this month. But throughout the country, the representatives of Planned Parenthood ensure that this relief is at best temporary. Many clinics have already stopped accepting Medicaid. Others continue to see patients under the program, but remember from submitting those insurance claims for payment. All make emergency plans in case they cannot re -introduce the Medicaid program.
Many scramble to find alternative sources of income to float. Clinics are particularly vulnerable in places where abortion is legal and medicaid programs receive more state investments. In many of those states-such as Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico and New York-Hebben abortion clinics, a dramatic influx seen in patients outside the state since the fall of Calf. Clinic closures In those places, patients can force us to travel even further for abortions, to get care of later during pregnancy or to stimulate what patients have to pay. It can also mean that more people remain pregnant.
“This just feels like this can be a huge shock for the system again,” said Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College who has followed abortion -related travel patterns for the past three years.
Last year only 155,000 people traveled to another state for an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a non -party -related research organization. About 1 in 4 abortion patients in Colorado came from a different state. In New Mexico it was 69 percent. More than 7,000 patients traveled to New York, the fourth largest state by population, for an abortion last year. Thousands more made the trip to Maryland.
Clinic closures would probably create new challenges for those patients, including longer waiting times and more expensive journeys to find abortions.
“In many states who have received many people who have become critical from the state that have become critical, there is really a pressure on clinic capacity,” said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a data scientist at Guttmacher who follows abortion-related travel patterns. “Clinics have learned to scale up capacity to serve those patients. If there was a considerable number of clinical closures, this would really have an impact on the ability of people to receive personal care.”
That is an imminent possibility in New York, where the affiliated parenthood with 23 health centers could lose around $ 35 million to federal medicaid dollars. That is about a third of the $ 103 million in operational income it reported Last year.
Organizational leaders hope that the state government could take effect – but if not, most clinics of the affiliated companies could be closed, said Robin Chappelle Golston, who is at the head that the state acts of Planned Parenthood Empire, the range of interests of the organization. That would not only affect New Yorkers, she said. Clinics in the state see patients from numerous other states, including hundreds from Texas and thousands from Florida last year.
“It’s just going to make it harder for people to get the care they need. We will have to reduce the services and strain other providers,” she said. “You hide the entire system, where people are unable to get care in the time they need it.”
Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain, who operates clinics in New Mexico and Colorado, reveals patients who are covered by Medicaid. Medicaid covers about a fourth of their patients in each state.
“Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain has been around for more than 100 years. We are not leaving,” says Jack Teter, vice -president of the government’s public affairs. “We need our state laws to step in.”
In the near future, he said, the organization can actually have more availability to see patients outside the state of abortion: there are now slots who would otherwise have gone to people who fall through Medicaid, who can no longer be treated. But he would not say whether the organization might have to scale back like New Mexico and Colorado, both of which are completely governed by Democrats, who cannot or cannot replace federal funds.
“These are Safe Haven-States with strong reproductive care access to support Trifecta governments. If they cannot find $ 3 or $ 4 million to replace the loss of federal financing, that is embarrassing,” he said.
Although it is still not clear how many clinics can close throughout the country, the consequences can be huge, which means that the trips have to travel for care – already hundreds or in some cases thousands of kilometers – too heavy to complete. With that, more people can be forced to stay pregnant.
One study, published in June in the American Journal of Public HealthDiscovered that the average travel time for an abortion after states started setting up almost total forbidden jump from 2.8 hours to 11.3. And 17 percent of the people traveling for an abortion had their procedure after 13 weeks of pregnancy or later, compared to only 8 percent before the end of CalfA development that the researchers attributed to the greater challenges they were in finding care.
Patients who cross state lines for care have already had to navigate increasing delays in getting abortions, partly because traveling includes hundreds of kilometers for an appointment logistics: finding childcare, taking leisure time or collecting the funds needed to finance a trip.
Planned Parenthood Illinois, which receives around $ 4 million a year from Medicaid funds, does not immediately anticipate many of his clinics that close, said Tonya Tucker, interim -CEO of the organization. But, she added that clinic closures in other states can mean that even more patients travel to Illinois – resolve in longer waiting times and care that comes later in pregnancy, which means that more costs. Abortion providers already saw more than 35,000 patients outside the state last year.
“We have the expectation that people may have to take further distances, and how we prepare for this is really important,” said Megan Jeyifo, who runs the Chicago Abortion Fund, one of the largest such funds in the country. “If the safety net in this country will continue to shrink and people have fewer resources, this means that our costs are rising.”
In Illinois, she said, his abortion providers and reproductive law activists brainstorm about ways to undermine potential clinic losses. This may mean that the capacity of independent clinics is extended, which already offer a large part of the abortions, recruit more care providers or lean on options such as TeleHealth, for which no trips are needed and is much cheaper than in-clinical abortion. About 1 in 4 abortions are already performed via TeleHealth, with half of the abortion for people who live in states with ban and who receive abortion pills from providers in other states.
But building those alternatives requires time and resources. Separately of their efforts to reduce financing for physical clinics, abortion have urged opponents to federal restrictions on abortion medication, including a national ban on TeleHealth.
“As the options of people are increasingly limited, you never know what that one extra obstacle will be who says someone can’t get an abortion,” said Maddow-Zimet.
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