Dr. did not work. Absolutely the same amount of work you do now. The abortion clinic where he practices, in Jacksonville, Florida, is overwhelmed with the arrival of patients from neighboring states, where voluntary interruption of pregnancy has been restricted, taking advantage of a controversial decision of the US Supreme Court.
“I used to see about 25 patients on a normal work day, now I see about 45 patients. There are a lot of demands,” laments this doctor who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of receiving threats from anti-abortion activists.
Despite reducing the duration of abortions in July from 24 to 15 weeks, Florida is now one of the places More permissive for termination of pregnancy in the southeastern United States.
Around it, other conservative-majority states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia have banned the practice outright or reduced its duration to six weeks, after the Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion at the federal level on June 24.
This decision prompted many women to travel to clinics in Florida, Including the center where Dr. d. owned by the NGO Planned Parenthoodone of the largest providers of reproductive services in the country.
We are in a desperate situation. “I like to call it a public health emergency,” says Laura Goodhue, executive director of that organization’s coalition in Florida.
Planned Parenthood was forced to open its doors on weekends and extend its working hours, by 12 hours a day in some of its clinics, Faced with the increase in out-of-state patients, most of them are women from Georgia, Alabama and Texas.
He also wants to appoint nine more doctors, many of whom will travel To Florida two days a week from those neighboring states where they can no longer workGoodhue explains.
In the kitchen of the Jacksonville Clinic, Dr. between patient and patient. Her work has allowed her to see some of the consequences of abortion restrictions in the southeastern United States.
“It’s so frustrating to see all of this,” Says the 33-year-old doctor.
many obstacles
Out-of-state patients have to take several days off work, as new Florida law requires women to have two appointments She explains at least 24 hours before the abortion.
They also have to find a way to travel and stay in the state, and sometimes find someone to take care of their children.
Added to it are a series of obstacles Now reducing the legal term for abortion in Florida.
“Unfortunately, If we do an ultrasound and see that they are more than 15 weeks old, We cannot help them and we have to give them the resources to go to other countries. This prolongs their journey to obtain this essential health care,” explains Dr.
About 280 miles south of Jacksonville, at the Planned Parenthood clinic in West Palm Beach, Jasmine (not his real name) is about to have a surgical abortion.
She is 23 years old and became pregnant after breaking the condom of the man she had been dating for three months. The next morning for the pills I ordered online arrived too late.
She hesitated a lot before going, but she preferred an abortion to continue her university studies. “I know it’s the best for me, even if it’s a tough decision,” guarantee. He justified this by saying: “One night of error should not lead to a permanent change in life.”
Jasmine lives in Florida and can’t imagine the experience of those who travel from another state to have an abortion. But he suffered from the doubts and stress caused by the Supreme Court’s decision.
“In Florida, you have up to 15 weeks, and that could have changed at any time, As in other countries. There were a lot of tears and nervousness,” he recalls.
With information from Agence France-Presse.
