The number of out-of-state patients traveling to Illinois for an abortion has doubled in the more than two weeks that states have been allowed to ban abortion, and doctors in states like Missouri where abortion is restricted except in cases of medical emergencies are unsure how to care for pregnant patients when their health is threatened.
That’s according to testimony Tuesday in a hearing called by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to learn about the legal consequences of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on June 24 that took away the constitutional right to an abortion and left laws governing the procedure up to states.
Missouri is among a dozen states that no longer allows abortion except in limited circumstances, and more are expected to follow.
Two of the five witnesses to testify at the hearing were Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Region and Southwest Missouri, and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton.
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The others included two legal experts and the director of a Sacramento crisis pregnancy center, and supports them through pregnancy and after birth.
McNicholas said patients are traveling as far as 1,000 miles each way to the clinic where she works in Fairview Heights, just across the border from Missouri.
“Almost overnight, our Illinois clinic has seen appointments triple and that is already on top of a double-booked schedule we sustaining in the wake of Texas and Oklahoma bans,†which restricted abortion through civil litigation even before the Supreme Court ruling, McNicholas said.
McNicholas, a licensed obstetrician in Missouri and Illinois, also said she’s been fielding questions and hearing from doctors in her role as vice chair of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists‘ Missouri section.
She described “mass chaos†among obstetricians, emergency room physicians and pharmacists — unsure how to interpret new state laws and concerned they could face prison time.
Patient care is being denied or delayed, McNicholas said. Some patients can’t get medications to treat conditions such as lupus, arthritis and cancer because the drugs might increase the risk of miscarriage or be used for “abortion in other indications.â€
“OB-GYNs are sitting on patients in emergency rooms while they bleed, while their vital signs become unstable, while they are waiting for hospital lawyers to decide, ‘Is this patient sick enough?’†to require an abortion, she said. “When the consequence of violating a law is criminal, doctors are put in impossible positions where they know the right care, they know what to do to help somebody, but yet they have to wait — making folks sustain totally preventable harm.â€
She said she’s received phone calls from physicians across the state of Missouri, where abortion is banned except in cases of medical emergencies.
“What I am hearing people say is ‘My hospital sent me a policy that says I have to wait until their blood count drops or until their vitals are unstable before I can take them. I have to wait until it is clear that they are so sick, that their infection is so bad that they now require intensive care,’†McNicholas said.
The result will be lifelong health complications, some that could prevent the ability to get pregnant in the future, or even death.
“There are some real tragic impacts that we are going to see in the coming days, weeks and months,†McNicholas said.
Six states with the highest maternal mortality rates are also states that have banned abortion, McNicholas testified. “That is not a coincidence.â€
In addition, maternal mortality rates among Black woman are three to four times that of white women, if more states ban abortion.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, accused Democrats of falsely portraying an “apocalyptic†world since the Supreme Court’s decision. He called the decision a victory for democracy that returns the question of abortion to elected officials, whom residents can advocate and vote for.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pointed out during his questioning that 90% of Americans oppose abortion in the third trimester.
“Yet, that is the law that D.C. politicians want to impose on every voter in America, to take this away from the people, take it away from my state, take it away from all the other states and the voters of those states, to impose this law uniformly that is not supported by 90% of the American people,†Hawley said. “Talk about anti-democratic.â€
Most abortions, 93% take place in the first trimester, and less than 1% of abortions take place after 21 weeks gestation, according to the .
Stratton said patients are traveling to Illinois from neighboring states and from as from far away as Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.
“The Supreme Court’s decision does not quote ‘leave abortion up to the states’ when every state will be impacted,†Stratton said.
She urged the lawmakers to create a centralized hub used by abortion providers and patients to coordinate patient demand across the country, eliminate laws that prevent Medicaid coverage of abortions and explore federal rules that could be used to protect access.
Within Illinois, Stratton said, state leaders are discussing what they can do to protect privacy and prevent the sharing of information such as cellphone location data and online search history.
“The potential criminalization of patients coming to our state is certainly of top of mind in Illinois, but it’s not just the patients, it’s also the abortion care providers that also could potentially risk that same sort of criminalization,†she said.
“In Illinois,†Stratton said, “all hands are on deck as we brace for what is coming.â€
Posted at 7:07 p.m. Tuesday, July 12.