With just one decision, Arkansas went from having 3 abortion clinics to one. People who had their abortions scheduled got a call that they were no longer going to be able to get them. We’re fucking pissed!
A brief overview: So in Arkansas two clinics provide ONLY medication abortion but EVEN STILL they are required BECAUSE OF A TRAP LAW to have these RIDICULOUS “admitting privilege” contracts with doctors at local hospitals. You may be asking yourself “uh, haven’t we already won this won?” and YES, we sure did in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt where a similar TRAP law was struck down (BY SUPREME COURT) as unconstitutional. This one is indeed unconstitutional too, but in the words of Megan Hilty in the not-quite-hit-fictional-Broadway-musical-Bombshell “They just keep moving the line.” And an appeals court ruled that it wasn’t clear how many people this law ACTUALLY affected (and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case). You know who it frickin’ affected, the people who thought they wouldn’t be pregnant by the end of the week and got the call yesterday that they’d have to make other plans. These things have real world, immediate consequences people, this is not just some elaborate Constitutional experiment.
And let’s be perfectly clear: this is all a Charade (and not the good one starring Audrey Hepburn). This is all a Flashdance (not the good one starring Jennifer Beals) that abortion providers have to perform to provide BASIC MEDICAL CARE. We actually went to a clinic recently (shoutout Philadelphia Women's Center) and saw all the nonsense they have to do to provide MEDICAL abortion. Real quick: a medical abortion is legit, pills. You take one with the doctor and then the pharmacist gives you the other ones to take at home. But with the hoops you have to go through you’d think you were giving these patients the nuclear launch codes. At the clinic we were at a doctor had to come in, take the patient’s hand, hand them the medicine, watch them take it, and give them the information about it. This… is so much. SO MUCH! FOR MEDICINE!
And on top of that these fucking places are now trying to make EVEN MORE DOCTORS BE INVOLVED! Outline ran a great article this week about all the red tape medication abortion has had to run through and it is EYE OPENING. In an effort to continue their politically charged vendetta, anti-choicers are ENDANGERING patients. But what else is new!
So everyone needs to Step Up (not the good one starring Channing Tatum) and have this story take Center Stage (not the good one starring… that blonde actress) in the abortion debate.
