to an abortion provider, the financial burden is even higher. Beyond the cost of gas, a person who needs to travel for an abortion may also have to factor in lodging, child care, lost wages from time off work and other logistical expenses, in addition to the cost of the abortion.
For the vast majority of Texas women of reproductive age, their next nearest abortion clinic would be in states that also have policies, where patients already struggle to receive care and are subjected to those states’ punitive and burdensome restrictions.
Additionally, patients are banned from using their own health insurance—either public or private—to cover the cost of their abortion except in extreme situations. And that’s not all; patients are forced to undergo medically unnecessary ultrasounds, patients who are minors have to obtain parental consent before having an abortion and there is a 22-week abortion ban in effect. Furthermore, there are facility requirements that make abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy difficult to obtain.