Even before the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision last Friday to overturn abortion rights, Dr. Nancy Stanwood said patients from other states seeking abortion care were already traveling to 海角换妻, where services remain legal.
鈥淢ost recently, we cared for a patient from Texas who was pregnant from a rape,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd the Texas ban does not make an exception for people who are pregnant from rape.鈥�
Stanwood is an obstetrician-gynecologist and chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.
鈥淥ur health center staff were phenomenal and amazing in meeting that patient and providing her both the excellent medical care and the emotional support she needed to navigate receiving abortion care, because of a rape, after traveling 2,000 miles,鈥� she said.
Health care providers say instances like this will become more common as the country enters an era without Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that affirmed a constitutional right to abortion. For 海角换妻 providers, it means expanding access and protections as quickly as possible.
A new state law set to take effect July 1 will expand the pool of health care providers who can perform certain kinds of first-trimester abortion care procedures.
鈥淲e know that the wait for abortion care in our centers is longer than we want already,鈥� Stanwood said Tuesday at Planned Parenthood鈥檚 health center in New Haven. 鈥淗aving the option now of our clinicians getting training to provide aspiration abortion will help us better meet the needs of the people of 海角换妻, and be better prepared for the patients who will travel here to receive care.鈥�
Local health providers anticipate rising numbers of patients from states with abortion bans seeking services in states like 海角换妻, where abortion rights have been codified in state law since 1990.
Under 海角换妻鈥檚 new expansion law, advanced practice nurses will be able to perform vacuum aspiration abortions, a type of in-office procedure that uses suction to end a pregnancy. Only physicians have been able to perform the procedure due to language that was used in early state statutes.
Advanced practice nurses in 海角换妻 are already able to prescribe the abortion pill, a common first-trimester option involving a combination of two medicines that end a pregnancy.
Stanwood said she will begin training the first cohort of health providers on aspiration abortion this summer. She said many eligible providers working at Planned Parenthood centers are electing to train in the procedure.
Providers working in reproductive and sexual health care across the country now face varying degrees of limitations 鈥� and risks 鈥� in practicing their specialty after the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision, especially in states with abortion bans.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said his office has already received calls from health providers who say they intend to move to 海角换妻 to continue practicing.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have people coming here,鈥� he said. 鈥淯nfortunately, though, their patients are still in the states that are going to be underserved.鈥�
Amanda Skinner, president and CEO at Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, hopes the reversal of Roe will actually inspire more health providers to specialize in reproductive health care and provide abortion services going forward.
鈥淲hat I am hoping is that this is a galvanizing moment,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd that people recognize the importance and value of being able to control your own sexual and reproductive health and life, the role that plays in defining your future and your freedom, in being able to have a family of your choosing.鈥�
The July 1 海角换妻 law will also provide some legal protections for out-of-state patients and in-state health providers who seek or provide abortion care within state lines from potential lawsuits brought by abortion opponents elsewhere.
海角换妻 legislators who authored the new law have said they鈥檙e confident that these protections will act as a deterrent and stand up in court. However, some legal experts say until the law is actually tested, the fate of these protections is less certain.
