Are abortions essential surgery?
During crisis, three states say they aren’t
Several states – including Ohio, Texas and Mississippi – have ruled that all abortions should be considered nonessential procedures and must be delayed during the coronavirus pandemic.
In Texas, providers can be fined or jailed for violating the order.
Abortion rights groups have criticized the moves, calling an abortion an essential service.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves promised to take action against his state’s lone abortion clinic, known as the Pink House, if it continues to provide abortions during the pandemic.
The Mississippi Department of Health has ordered all elective medical procedures and nonessential medical visits to be postponed as health care providers prepare for what could be a flood of coronavirus cases.
Reeves, who has worked for years to limit and end abortion in Mississippi, said Tuesday that he considers abortion elective and unnecessary.
“We’re doing everything in our power, and have for many years, to make Mississippi the safest place in America for unborn children,” he said.
The state’s top health official appeared less certain about the future of abortions in Mississippi.
“That’s something I was not familiar with,” said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer, in a news conference with the governor on Tuesday.
Reeves later appeared to downplay the politics of the issue, saying elective procedures were being shut down “not because we’re trying to say anything other than we need to protect our (personal protective equipment), our masks ... and other supplies for anyone who gets infected by this virus.”
Outside Jackson, Mississippi, the Pink House remains open, according to Kelly Krause, spokeswoman for the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy nonprofit that represents the Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday that all clinics in the state must stop providing abortions unless a woman’s life or health are in danger. He said abortion providers were included under Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency order, issued Sunday in response to the pandemic, that banned medically unnecessary surgeries and other procedures to conserve medical supplies.
Abortion rights advocates called the ban bad policy and accused Paxton and Abbott of using the crisis to issue a de facto ban on a procedure strongly opposed by the two Republican leaders.
“It’s insidious for anti-choice lawmakers to politicize this time of crisis,” said Heidi Sieck of #VOTEPROCHOICE.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider with offices in Austin, said abortion is a time-sensitive procedure and patients won’t be able to wait for the pandemic to run its course.
Abbott’s emergency order – in force until April 21 – banned surgeries and procedures that “are not immediately medically necessary.”
Few abortions occur in a hospital – 87 in 2017, or 0.0016% of all abortions in Texas, state figures show, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
But Paxton said Monday that Abbott’s order also was intended to extend supplies of personal protective equipment such as breathing masks, face shields and gloves. “No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers,” Paxton said. He added that violators “will be met with the full force of the law, “which calls for up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
Abortion rights advocates argued that Paxton and Abbott were denying access to essential health care. “There are many reasons women decide to have an abortion in the already limited time window state law allows, and a delay means denying them the constitutional right to make those decisions in a safe, timely manner with the help of their doctors,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network.
In Ohio, the issue has become a political hot potato as Gov. Mike DeWine and Attorney General David Yost seem to have conflicting views on whose role it is to settle the issue.
When Ohio Health Director Amy Acton was asked Monday about abortions at the state’s daily coronavirus news conference, DeWine interjected and said the question was being addressed by “lawyers” and Yost’s office.
Earlier, Yost’s office said that whether clinics are in violation of Acton’s order will be decided by the health department and, if so, the attorney general would then take legal action.
Last week, Yost’s office sent letters to three abortion clinics and a urologist’s office that said the state had received complaints about the clinics. He also reiterated Acton’s order and warned that it would take “appropriate measures” if the clinics failed to comply.
Giacomo Bologna and Alissa Zhu report for the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. Contributing: Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman; Catherine Candisky, The Columbus Dispatch