Abortion block could widen inequalities for some Ohioans
Ohio women may soon need to travel hundreds of miles for an abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, sending what has been a constitutionally protected right for nearly 50 years back to state control.
Ohio is one of 24 states that is likely to outright ban or severely restrict abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
If states follow through, abortion could be illegal or limited in much of the Midwest and the South. So-called “abortion deserts” already exist throughout the country, but they could expand if the 1973 ruling is reversed, said Dr. Alison Norris, an associate professor at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health.
“We are multiplying the challenges that they experience,” Norris said. “We’re increasing the difficulty for them to achieve a life of what they wish.”
If Ohio imposes strict limits or bans abortion, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia will likely do so as well, Norris said. If Michigan and Pennsylvania were to do the same, women living in 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties would need to drive between 191 miles and 339 miles to get a legal abortion, research from Norris and her colleagues shows.
That mileage means travel times would increase 10-fold what they are right now for Ohio women seeking an abortion, Norris said.
Abortion is “a very simple form of health care” that is considered around 14 times safer for a woman than giving birth, said Norris, who is also a member of the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network, an organization that conducts research on reproductive health care access and outcomes.
In Ohio, 20,605 abortions were performed in 2020, according to data from the Ohio Department of Health. That marks a steep decline in abortions since 1982 in
Ohio, when the number of aborted pregnancies peaked at more than 45,000.
Nationwide, 629,898 abortions were induced in 2019, according to the most-recent data available from the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention.
Women looking for an abortion face travel that most people encounter only when they’re seeking a specialist or a treatment for a rare disease, said Mikaela Smith, a research scientist at Ohio State’s College of Public Health.
“A quarter of women will need an abortion at some point,” Smith said. “For something that’s relatively common, it definitely stands out as ... travel being unique.”
Although some providers offer medication abortion via mail, many women prefer to see a doctor in person when considering an abortion, said Norris. That means for most, travel will still be necessary.
The further women will have to travel for an abortion, the more money they’ll have to spend, Smith and her colleague, Payal Chakraborty, both said. On gas alone, they said research shows some women may have to spend $198 or more to drive to the nearest abortion provider.
The Columbus-based nonprofit Women Have Options (WHO) provides financial assistance and practical support for patients seeking abortion services. Typically, the organization serves 1,000 people a year and helps them find and pay for appointments, said Maggie Scotece, interim executive director for WHO.
If the Roe v. Wade decision is reversed, it could create more demand for the help groups like WHO provide.
“Care will be more expensive as you go further out in terms of gestational limit,” Scotece said. “It also means the cost of accessing that care — transportation, child care, housing — is all going to go up, as well.”
The barriers to an abortion that could arise if the service is outlawed in Ohio won’t affect every woman in the same way, researchers told The Dispatch. People of color, people who rely on public transit and those who generally don’t have many financial resources will be the most affected.
In Ohio, more than half of the women who had abortions in 2020 were nonwhite, and 43.2% of women were Black, according to the state health department.
In the last few years, racism has gained traction as a serious public health issue. Given that Black women are the most likely to seek an abortion, eliminating abortion rights “runs counter to any public health initiative and even the state’s own reported self interest” when it comes to reducing racial disparities in health care, Norris said.
Maternal and infant mortality are already highest among Ohio’s Black women, and researchers warned both could increase if abortion rights are rolled back.
Black women accounted for 17% of women giving birth, but 34% of pregnancy-related deaths in Ohio from 2012 through 2016, a statewide study found. In 2019, and 14.3 Black babies died for every 1,000 live births compared with 5.1 white infants per 1,000 live births, according to the most-recent state data.
“You are kind of going against any goals to decrease maternal mortality and infant mortality as well by banning abortions and by (forcing women) to carry riskier pregnancies to term,” Smith said. “It sort of enters (abortion) into this whole system of inequities.”