Some states, cities spending hundreds of thousands on abortion entry, report finds : NPR

As a rising variety of states prohibit abortion, different states and a few native municipalities are considerably growing funding for abortion and different reproductive well being companies.

Not less than 15 municipal and 6 state governments allotted practically $208 million to pay for contraception, abortion and assist companies for folks in search of abortions within the 12 months because the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade, in keeping with knowledge supplied to NPR by the Nationwide Institute for Reproductive Well being.

That is way over the roughly $55 million spent on comparable companies within the three years earlier than the Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being Group determination final June allowed abortion restrictions to take impact across the nation.

“We have seen unequalled motion throughout states and localities on the municipal stage to bolster entry to reproductive healthcare, and particularly round abortion, as a extremely speedy and direct response,” NIRH President Andrea Miller mentioned in an interview with NPR.

Cash has been put aside for quite a lot of functions, Miller mentioned, together with allocations for abortion funds and assist networks that present monetary help to folks struggling to pay for procedures, journey and different related prices. California, for instance, put aside $20 million to assist out-of-state sufferers journey there for abortions; Chicago’s public well being division allotted $500,000 to be break up between Deliberate Parenthood of Illinois and the Chicago Abortion Fund.

Miller mentioned she hopes to see these sorts of organizations turn into much less depending on non-public donations.

“We’re listening to from abortion funds and sensible assist networks that the requests they’re getting are astronomical, and they’re to date past what they’ve ever been earlier than,” she mentioned.

Throughout a latest name with reporters, Oriaku Njoku, government director of the Nationwide Community of Abortion Funds, mentioned organizations within the community are “fielding extra calls than ever and supporting extra folks than ever” whereas going through more and more complicated logistics as extra states enact restrictions. Njoku mentioned extra callers report they’re delaying abortions due to difficulties with entry.

Along with serving to sufferers journey and pay for abortion, some states have funded efforts to develop their capability to offer abortions for folks touring from states with bans.

“These are states the place abortion stays authorized and largely accessible, and the place the demand is growing exponentially,” Miller mentioned.

New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, has pledged $10 million to assist construct a brand new reproductive well being clinic within the state. New Jersey is offering $6 million in state loans to develop ladies’s well being clinics.

NIRH additionally tracks laws designed to guard sufferers who journey throughout state strains, healthcare suppliers and others who help them, from potential lawsuits or prosecution. For the reason that Dobbs determination, at the least 11 states have handed what are generally known as “protect legal guidelines” designed to protect in opposition to out-of-state authorized motion.