suggests there were thousands more abortions in the states where abortion remained legal in the first half of 2023, than there were nationwide during a comparable period in 2020.of a 13-year-old rape survivor who was not able to obtain an abortion even more heartbreaking. The teen—whom TIME referred to as Ashley —was failed by broken systems at several points.
Ashley’s doctor isn’t to blame for the incorrect and insufficient information given to Ashley and her mother—anti-abortion lawmakers and extremists are.wereabortion providers closer to Ashley’s home than in Chicago, including in Carbondale and southwestern Illinois that are a shorter drive from Ashley’s home in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Additionally, a significant number of healthcare professionals fear legal repercussions if they share information about abortion options with their patients. According to a recentfrom the Kaiser Family Foundation, in states that make it a crime for a doctor to provide an abortion, nearly 80 percent of OB-GYNS don’t make an out-of-state referral and 30 percent don’t inform their patients about online resources explaining their abortion options. This silence fails people like Ashley.
Last year, the National Abortion Hotline helped fund close to 120,000 abortion procedures. In the first half of 2023, we covered travel expenses for more than 900 people so they could access abortion care. Still, too many people like Ashley and her mother do not know that these resources exist or that they have options—even if they live in states where abortion is banned, or can’t afford to pay for the travel or medical care.