NEW YORK – A mid-year report from the Guttmacher Institute on abortion access in the United States puts the state-level divide on abortion policy front and center.
It details abortion bans in 12 states, and highlights states like New York that have expanded access to the procedure.
New York’s new abortion rights law, which went into effect in January, creates exceptions to a previous ban on most abortions after 24 weeks.
Danielle Campoamor, an abortion rights advocate with the 1 in 3 Campaign, says the report stresses the need for people who live in states with expanded access to educate themselves about what it’s like to access care across the country.
“I think really it comes down to looking at grassroots movements, abortion funds in states, you know, with one clinic that provides abortions,” she states.
Campoamor explains the cost of terminating a pregnancy typically starts at around $500, but goes up when a woman must travel across state lines or stay overnight in states that require a waiting period.
The National Network of Abortion Funds says hundreds of thousands of people a year ask for assistance with costs.
Officials in New York City announced last week they would allocate $250,000 to help pay for abortions for women in need.
Six states have only one clinic that provides abortion services, and states across the South are passing near total bans on the procedure.
Campoamor calls it “alarming” that people in more liberal states like New York might view these bans as isolated issues affecting only those states.
“It’s very easy for people to just blame the states,” she stresses. “Like what we’ve been watching going on in Alabama for example: ‘Oh, this is an Alabama problem.’
“Well, that’s not true. This is a countrywide program. You’re just lucky if you happen to live in a state that is expanding access instead of restricting it.”
New York is one of only 13 states that have laws on the books that would protect a woman’s right to choose an abortion if the Roe v. Wade case were overturned.
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