Patients sat in abortion clinic waiting rooms as Roe fell. They all had to be turned away.

[kpete]

Gallegos watched each word land like a blow. People cried. They screamed. They begged for help, she said. It was “complete despair.”

Hours later, the clinic had emptied of all but those who had received their abortions hours or minutes before Roe v. Wade, the 50-year-old court case that enshrined abortion as a right, was overturned by the Supreme Court Friday, leaving the question of abortion access up to individual states. Only those with follow-up appointments could be seen.

Gallegos and her staff called about 20 people who were scheduled to come in that day. Some were caught off guard, Gallegos said. “Why today? Why the day of their appointment did this happen?” patients told her.

Those turned away were patients who were now outside an already small window: In September, Texas banned abortion past six weeks of pregnancy. That law was the first in a series of abortion restrictions passed in states across the country in the last year that served as a preview of life after Roe.

More of this horrific story:
https://19thnews.org/2022/06/patients-abortion-clinics-texas-turned-away-roe-overturned/

[dalton99a]

1. "I took off work to be here today and now you want me to travel?"

Gallegos is also working to refer patients out to clinics in nearby states — Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico — where abortion is still protected. But many of their patients are low-income. They were choosing an abortion in part because they feared being unable to afford a child. They don’t have the funds to travel.

“These are patients that oftentimes are already mothers, they are already taking care of children, some are living paycheck-to-paycheck,” Gallegos said. “These are the folks that are going to be forced into having another child if they can’t make it out of state, and those effects, all the way around, are just devastating. Several say, ‘How am I supposed to do this? I took off work to be here today and now you want me to travel?’”

[samnsara]

2. i heard on the news that neighboring states immediately made these women first priority for services

..there are so many stories of states and people stepping up to roadblock scotus hurtful decision. we need more positive stories about how women are accessing services and all the agencies stepping up. The three west coast states have developed a 'West Coast Defense'..and along with Nevada had declared themselves committed to providing access to all services.

I love reading about what we can do and not what we cant do..

[secondwind]

3. So glad I saw this. You literally made my day.

Thanks for posting!

[c-rational]

4. Thanks for posting this.