International Travel to Access Abortion Is a Global Health Problem--Not a Solution

[niyad]

International Travel to Access Abortion Is a Global Health Problem—Not a Solution
6/3/2022 by Alyson O'Daniel and Elizabeth Ziff
While gestures of support from U.S. neighbors and allies are appreciated, outsourcing abortion care is not a solution to the problems overturning Roe v. Wade will exacerbate.



Students protest against overturning Roe v. Wade in New York on May 19, 2022. Many attendees of U.S. marches wear green, hearkening to the symbol in the fight for reproductive rights that originated in Latin America. (Alex Kent / AFP via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, May 25, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed into law a total ban on abortion—continuing the nationwide assault on access to reproductive healthcare. As millions of patients face abortion prohibitions in their home states and the potential end of protections afforded by Roe v. Wade, proposed solutions to the prospect of forced pregnancy in the U.S. are inadequate.

Karina Gould, Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, has previously assured American women that they can obtain safe abortions in Canada. Since last fall, activists in Mexico have been working feverishly to establish networks that supply abortion pills to women in the U.S. And, while the gestures of support from neighbors and allies are appreciated, outsourcing abortion care is not a solution to the problems overturning Roe v. Wade will exacerbate.

International medical travel creates new forms of suffering, even as it may alleviate others.

Medical travel is a form of class-based privilege, where the relatively wealthy are enabled to receive health services unavailable to others. Research shows that, as middle-class individuals in developed countries, such as the U.S., experience a retrenchment of healthcare entitlements and declining healthcare access, they have begun to seek care in international settings. This includes travel for life-saving surgeries, such as organ transfer, as well as elective procedures such as cosmetic surgery. These different types of international medical travel share in common their tendency to worsen healthcare inequalities. Necessitating international travel for abortions is poised to continue this harmful trend.

Studies show that, when the distance to a clinic exceeds more than 25 miles, there is a significant drop in people of color and lower-income people being able to access medical services. Necessitating international medical travel will certainly worsen these existing racialized class inequalities. For example, key barriers to abortion access include financial and geographic resources. The six-week abortion ban in Texas means that pregnant people must travel an average of 247 miles—one way—to obtain an abortion. Pregnant people struggling to make ends meet must scrape together the money, transportation and time to access life-saving healthcare. What’s worse, 26 states have mandatory waiting periods, adding to the overall time and money needed to see a procedure through to completion.

. . . .



. . .
International medical travel is thus not a viable solution to abortion bans in the U.S.. A worldwide increase in healthcare inequality is a steep cost we simply cannot afford. Americans must be wise to the perils of outsourcing abortion care and urge our international neighbors and allies to join the fight to uphold Roe v. Wade.

https://msmagazine.com/2022/06/03/international-travel-abortion-access/