Virginia must protect abortion access if Roe falls
I likely will be an abortion provider in a post-Roe America. I was lucky enough to train to be an abortion provider when the right to abortion was protected by the U.S. Constitution. But, as confirmed by the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, I am now an abortion provider preparing to provide care in a post-Roe America.
I will always advocate for my patients’ ability to make the decisions that are right for their bodies and futures, and I know that no two of my patients are the same. Most of my patients are mothers, many are in school or working and, during this pandemic, I have even had the privilege of caring for essential workers like nurses who were on the frontlines fighting COVID.
I know firsthand what it means to have access to safe, legal abortion and the huge steps forward we have taken in Virginia to minimize medically unnecessary barriers to this essential health care. Despite multiple attacks on abortion during the last Virginia legislative session, access to abortion remains in the commonwealth.
But we all know access isn’t equal. Even while Roe remains the law of the land, I still see patients and hear of many others who have struggled to access care. Largely, these are folks who live in more rural communities, may be uninsured, and experience barriers that further exacerbate existing challenges to accessing care.
In 2018, the Mississippi legislature passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, banning abortion in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a full two months before the viability line established by Roe. However, Mississippi’s unconstitutional ban was blocked by courts before it could take effect.
After finally making its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Mississippi law appears likely to stand, and this week’s leaked draft opinion in the case confirms that the court plans to explicitly overturn Roe — erasing nearly 50 years of precedent and ending the constitutional right to abortion. States around the country will soon have the authority to ban abortion We know that 26 states — mostly in the South and Midwest — will likely move to do that once Roe falls, leaving Virginia as one of the few states to serve the entire region.
Texas’ six-week abortion ban is a case study on what the real impact will be when abortion is banned in states across the country. Since that ban took effect in September, states neighboring Texas reported a huge influx of out-of-state abortion patients. I personally had a patient in need of an abortion who flew across the country to Virginia during a raging pandemic just to get care. This patient’s story has been the reality for Texans and those in other states such as Oklahoma, where abortion is now banned after six weeks, too. It’s about to become the reality for millions of people across the country who find themselves cut off from care in their own communities. For those who can financially and logistically afford to travel, Virginia providers are ready to provide care.
One in four women will have an abortion by age 45. For now, abortion access is protected in Virginia — but we will undoubtedly feel the ripple effects of loss in half of the country once Roe falls. Abortion is a basic human right, and we are not free until everyone in the United States can control their own bodies, lives and futures.
This is the bottom line: Abortion remains safe and legal in Virginia, but as long as one person in the United States does not have access to abortion, we are all impacted. With the Supreme Court prepared to end the constitutional right to abortion, we must all do our part to ensure access is protected in Virginia — and fight to regain reproductive freedom for all.