California To Help Fund Travel For Out-of-State Abortion Patients

Hooray!

Here's something really nice: California may spend up to $20 million to help those with unwanted pregnancies who live in states where abortion is illegal travel there to get them. This is an incredibly kind and altruistic thing to do.

The “Abortion Practical Support Fund” was initially set up to only cover in-state travel expenses — airfare, gas, lodging, food, etc. — for those who already live in California, but perhaps not near an abortion clinic. The fund will be financed both through tax money and private donations, and the money from it will "[provide] grants to nonprofit organizations that either specialize in assisting pregnant people who are low income, or who face other financial barriers, with direct practical support services to access and obtain an abortion or that provide abortion services to those persons."

“We’re being realistic. You’re going to ask, ‘Are we going to pay for everyone’s travel and accommodations for 33 million people, of which 10% may seek care in California?’ Come on. We have to be realistic about what we can absorb,” California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said at the time. “It’s not just the government providing and supporting. It’s all of us. It’s you, it’s me, it’s everyone contributing.”

However, after weeks of lobbying from abortion access activists encouraging him to stay true to his promise of making California a sanctuary for out-of-state abortion seekers, Newsom saw the light and decided these organizations should also be allowed to use that money to help those who have the misfortune to live in states where the government exerts undue control over their bodies and personal medical decisions.

“None of that matters if we’re not also ensuring that patients can get to where they need to go,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “Everyone deserves to get health care, including abortion, and unfortunately for half the country they need to travel outside the state they live in in order to get that.”

The state already has $40 million set aside to pay for abortions for those — both residents and out-of-towners — who can't afford them.

Although not every state that is going to outlaw abortion has had those laws go into effect, abortion support funds in California and other abortion access states are already stretched thin.

Via KQED:  

State lawmakers in Oregon — anticipating an abortion ban in neighboring Idaho — agreed to spend $15 million to help women seek abortions. So far, $1 million has gone to the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, a nonprofit that helps patients pay for travel and the procedure itself. The fund exhausted its planned operating budget this year and had to approve additional emergency funds amid growing demand for travel aid, according to Riley Keane, practical support lead for the group.

In California, some of the money could go to Access Reproductive Justice, the state’s only statewide abortion support fund. The group usually helps about 500 people per year get abortions, but director Jessica Pinckney said they’ve seen an increase since the U.S. Supreme Court decision. Recently, for the first time ever, Pinckney said the group in one week helped more women who lived in other states than they did from California.

“We’re definitely seeing an increase of Texans and Arizonians. We’re also starting to see folks coming from Louisiana, Alabama — much further than we would have even anticipated,” Pinckney said. “I still don’t necessarily think we have the full story of what things are going to look like now.

Meanwhile, it turns out residents of more conservative states are not quite as eager to outlaw abortion as their lawmakers are. A recent poll shows that only 15 percent of Texas residents actually support new laws outlawing all abortions without exceptions. A trigger law also just went into effect in Texas, which makes performing an abortion a felony punishable by life in prison. That could be a hard sell in a state with an already extreme OB-GYN shortage. Perhaps ironically, there is such an incredible dearth of places to give birth in Texas that people are regularly giving birth on the side of the road while trying to travel the 100+ miles they need to get to a hospital with a labor and delivery unit.

Perhaps things like this are the reason voters are increasingly saying that abortion is going to be the most important or one of the most important issues for them at the ballot box this November.

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