ST. LOUIS 鈥 Vice President Kamala Harris met Thursday with abortion providers from some of the most restrictive states in the country, including Missouri, to learn how the Biden administration can help protect access to abortion amid a looming U.S. Supreme Court decision that could end the constitutional right to the procedure.
Harris held the virtual meeting with providers from across the country, including Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Missouri. Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for the Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the 狐狸视频 Region, was among those invited.
鈥淭his experience in Missouri forced us to face the truth: a post-Roe reality is coming for all of us,鈥 McNicholas said.
The 狐狸视频 region is unique in that it straddles the two states 鈥 Republican-led Missouri, which has moved to restrict abortion access, and Democrat-led Illinois, which has worked to expand access.
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Planned Parenthood of the 狐狸视频 Region in 2019 opened an abortion clinic in Fairview Heights 鈥 just 15 minutes from its Missouri clinic. Over the years, the 狐狸视频 clinic has become the only abortion provider in Missouri.
Since the Fairview Heights facility opened, abortions have become nearly nonexistent in Missouri. Patients can drive a bit farther to Illinois and avoid Missouri鈥檚 72-hour mandatory waiting period, which requires two appointments three days apart for those seeking an abortion.
Thursday鈥檚 meeting with the vice president was closed to the public, but McNicholas said she described the long list of increasing restrictions in Missouri. Staff spend every day helping Missouri women with the logistics needed to get to Illinois, such as transportation or child care.
McNicholas urged the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency, just like during the COVID-19 pandemic, to help get federal resources to local providers if the right to an abortion is overturned.
鈥淲e believe this is a public health emergency that will worsen already dire health outcomes, especially among Black and brown folks, undocumented people, women, and people with low incomes who already face racist and discriminatory policies,鈥 McNicholas said.
Providers at the Fairview Heights clinic and the Hope Clinic for Women in nearby Granite City have said they expect to see up to 15,000 additional patients a year 鈥 more than double their typical patient load 鈥 if Roe v. Wade is tossed out.
The two providers have been preparing for the scenario, joining together in January to open a regional logistics center at the Fairview Heights clinic. The center helps patients with travel arrangements and connects them to other resources, including financial assistance.
The center has already helped more than 1,000 patients traveling from other states, McNicholas said.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 coming in a matter of weeks will require innovation, bold action, resources and support from every level of government,鈥 she said.
Harris鈥 meeting with providers followed a leak earlier this month of a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion suggesting that justices are on the brink of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Overturning Roe would leave abortion access up to state legislatures.
Lawmakers in more than half the country 鈥 26 states 鈥 are certain or likely to outlaw abortion. About 36 million women of reproductive age live in those states. Missouri is one of 13 Republican-led states with 鈥渢rigger laws鈥 ready to ban abortion if the 1973 ruling is tossed out.
Less than an hour before Harris went into the meeting, the Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval to a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization. The bill is similar to one that took effect in Texas in September, which allows civilians to sue anyone who provides or assists someone in getting an abortion, thus circumventing court challenges.
The Oklahoma bill goes even further than the Texas law, which bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. It would take effect immediately upon signing by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has pledged to make Oklahoma 鈥渢he most pro-life state.鈥
Such laws leave women traveling farther for an abortion.
In the wake of the Texas ban, the clinic in Fairview Heights has already seen a 121% increase in out-of-state patients, as appointments fill up at clinics throughout the Midwest and Southeast, McNicholas said.
Harris said before starting the meeting that she fears overturning Roe v. Wade could lead to restrictive state laws over birth control; or the reversal of other Supreme Court decisions, such as the 2015 ruling that struck down state bans on same-sex marriage.
鈥淭he right to privacy, that forms the basis of Roe, is the same right to privacy that protects the right to use contraception and the right to marry the person you love,鈥 Harris said.
McNicholas said she warned Harris that state legislatures will likely go beyond banning abortion. She said Missouri has long been a 鈥渢esting ground鈥 for new, restrictive measures.
In March, state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, proposed a bill that would make it illegal to 鈥渁id or abet鈥 abortions outlawed in Missouri, even if they are performed in other states.