Restricting Abortion Access Is a Class Issue
Bans and laws limiting funding impact girls and women on the economic margins
This week marks one year of living under South Carolina’s draconian six-week abortion ban. To mark the anniversary, I wrote about the only abortion fund exclusive to South Carolina, the Palmetto State Abortion Fund. Run exclusively by volunteers, they are helping hundreds of patients access care by providing the economic, logistical, and emotional support currently denied to them in this hellscape of anti-women healthcare that is America.
Accessing care has becoming increasingly more expensive as donations have declined, so please consider helping with a monthly donation (or even host a fundraiser!).
And the New York Times had a great piece last week detailing why abortion clinics are struggling, even in states that have broad protections. Laws limiting the use of private insurance, Medicaid and ACA plans to cover abortion procedures result in essentially defunding the clinics themselves (in addition to adding to the medical debt of patients):
“The reimbursement landscape is also difficult for clinics. Patients who need help covering the costs of abortions generally have three options: private insurance, state-supported Medicaid programs and abortion funds. Three of the 36 states (and Washington, D.C.) where abortion is legal, limit the use of private insurance to cover services in their state-regulated plans. Twelve states also ban abortion coverage through their Affordable Care Act exchange plans.
Federal Medicaid funds cannot be used to cover abortion, so 17 states provide coverage with their own state-run Medicaid programs. But many of these state-run programs reimburse at low rates. A new study from KFF found that state Medicaid reimbursement rates did not increase significantly after the first trimester — when procedures become more complicated and, therefore, more expensive. This means that clinics are being significantly underpaid for the services they’re providing.
Finally, many patients rely on abortion funds — nonprofits that raise money to help patients cover procedures and travel costs. Some clinics, like Dr. Reeves’s, even employ staff to help patients gain access to this money. But the funds are in high demand and typically cover only a clinic’s baseline costs.”
In South Carolina, patients can still use private insurance to cover abortion care (for now, and if the plan offers it) but cannot use Medicaid or ACA plans. If the legislature turns even more red or Freedom Caucus-y, we can expect a total abortion ban and even more restrictions on funding. It is also possible they’ll attempt to pass laws like those in Texas and Alabama that have essentially shut down abortion funds under the “aiding and abetting” a crime statutes.
Barring federal legislation, we have a years-long slog to transform the legislature and pass abortion protections in South Carolina. In the meantime, we can all help with the gross economic injustice of forcing people living on the margins to travel for healthcare or paying out of pocket for those abortions that are considered “legal.”