Two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the South has become covered with abortion bans.
Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas -- along with Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota -- all now have near-total bans on abortion in effect. The clinics that had been working there spent years navigating previous restrictions and fighting off state laws.
Now, said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and CEO of Whole Woman's Health, which has facilities in Texas, staff are grappling with the idea that "there is no narrative that's going to allow us to reopen. There is no lawsuit we get to try to win this time or some kind of fight that we can fight this time that will allow us to resume the care that we know our communities need."
Instead, clinic leaders in these states are fully changing plans as they have stopped providing abortions. For some, this means staying open but altering the care provided. For others, this means packing up and leaving for good, with the intention of serving patients in the South by reopening in nearby states where abortion is still legal.
For all, there is worry for the patients who will not be able to access care they seek.
"I am very concerned about what the hospitals are going to see, when the hospital emergency rooms begin to receive women who have been desperate and take desperate measures," Kathaleen Pittman, administrator for the New Hope Medical for Women in Louisiana, told News.
The West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa halted abortion operations as soon as the Supreme Court decision was announced on June 24. The state swiftly moved to ban an abortion, with a law that makes it a Class A felony to perform an abortion, except to prevent a serious health risk to the pregnant person.
The center closed down on June 29. But at 8 a.m. on July 11, the center will be reopening, according to operations director Robin Marty, who called the two-week closure a "clean break" between the past and present.
Due to legal concerns, the clinic will no longer provide abortions but will continue to offer access to contraceptives and HIV testing, among other sexual health services, Marty said.
The clinic will also no longer provide information or resources to assist pregnant people traveling to obtain an abortion elsewhere. This, Marty said, is because Alabama officials, including the state's attorney general, have said they will consider expanding the criminality of abortion to those who help -- logistically or financially -- someone obtain an abortion outside of the state.
Despite these changes, Marty said, the clinic will assist those experiencing bleeding or possible miscarriages, no questions asked.
"There is a severe lack of health care in Alabama, there's not a lot of providers or hospitals, there's not a lot of access to contraceptives or to OB care in general," Marty said. "There are hospitals and doctors that just don't entirely know what care to do for patients who are bleeding."
The Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, too will stay open, Pittman said -- for options counseling and to provide ultrasounds.
"We're going to continue to keep our doors open. We'll do everything we can within the law to help the women and just hope," she said.
The Louisiana Supreme Court allowed a ban on nearly all abortion to go into effect Friday after a series of court challenges by local abortion providers was moved to another jurisdiction. There is ongoing legal action on this front.
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