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 Compared to women whose nearest abortion clinic remained opened,
those whose nearest clinic closed were more likely to report
traveling long distances, spending more than $100 and other
difficulties in accessing abortion.
"Clinic closures really compounded the burdens women were already
experiencing and this study brings that to bear in a very detailed
way," said study author Liza Fuentes, of Ibis Reproductive Health in
Oakland, California.
U.S. states have added almost 300 abortion restrictions since 2010,
according to Fuentes and her colleagues of the Texas Policy
Evaluation Project.
They write in the American Journal of Public Health that under the
2013 law passed in Texas, doctors performing abortions must have
admitting privileges to local hospitals and must follow specific
rules for medication abortions, most abortions at or after 20 weeks
are banned and abortion centers must meet the standards of surgical
centers.
To examine the effects of the law, the researchers surveyed 398
Texas women receiving abortions at 10 of the state's remaining
clinics in mid-2014.
More than a third of the women - 38 percent - said their nearest
clinic had closed after 2013. These women traveled an average of 85
miles each way to get an abortion, compared to 22 miles on average
for those reporting that their nearest clinic had stayed open.
Overall, 44 percent of those whose nearest clinics closed had to
drive more than 50 miles, compared to about 10 percent of those
whose clinics remained open.
For women who had a clinic closure, "their distance to the nearest
clinic (was) four times further than before the law," said Fuentes.
About a third of women whose nearest clinic had closed said they'd
spent over $100, compared to a fifth of those who didn't have
clinics close.
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And 37 percent of women who lost their nearby clinics weren't able
to have the kind of abortion they wanted (a medication abortion
using the drug mifepristone), compared to 22 percent of those whose
nearby clinics remained opened.
The only factor that didn't differ between the two groups of women
was how far along they were when they got their abortion, the
researchers write.
Fuentes told Reuters Health that the study couldn't account for
women who had so much trouble accessing abortions that they didn't
show up to the clinic.
"I think it’s important to note what this study isn’t able to do,"
she said.
In previous research, the same team found that after the law was
passed, more women were delayed in getting abortions, didn't obtain
abortions or even thought about self-inducing an abortion.
At current rates, about 30 percent of U.S. women will have an
abortion by age 45, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a
non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of reproductive
health.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Wu5IWo American Journal of Public Health,
online March 17, 2016.
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