'Not afraid': The Texas pilot flying patients to abortions
(BRAVA!!!! VERY long, important, uplifting read)
‘Not afraid’: The Texas pilot flying patients to abortions
As abortion becomes less accessible in the US, one pilot is determined to help vulnerable patients despite the risks.
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An Elevated Access pilot grips the controls of her single-engine aeroplane [Courtesy of Elevated Access]
By Delaney Nolan
Published On 23 Jun 202323 Jun 2023
Correction23 Jun 2023
This article originally stated that Fiona is the founder of EA. She is a spokesperson for the volunteer network.
It was summer, midday and hot when the teenager arrived at the tiny regional airport. She was wearing pyjamas and “carrying a stuffed animal for support,” recalls Michelle, who was there to meet her. The girl was seeking an abortion, and Michelle, a licensed pilot, was about to fly her to another state so she could get one. Just weeks earlier, on June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court had overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that enshrined the legal right to abortion, thereby allowing states to enact bans. The girl’s home state had a “trigger law” on the books and had almost immediately banned abortion with very few exceptions. Now she needed to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest clinic offering abortions.
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It was Michelle’s first flight with Elevated Access (EA), a nonprofit that organises a network of pilots to discreetly transport patients who otherwise do not have the means to cross state borders for an abortion. When they landed, Michelle handed the sisters over to another volunteer pilot who would fly them on to their destination. Because patients in states with abortion bans typically have to travel hundreds of miles and small aircraft like Michelle’s fly considerably slower and hold less fuel than commercial planes, multiple volunteer EA pilots often share the job. “The age is heartbreaking,” Michelle says of her young passenger. She’d nursed some anxiety about the flight beforehand because she felt so much responsibility for her passengers. But once they reached their destination, she says from her home in Texas, “I felt really good. I felt emotional about it.”
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Since Roe v Wade was overturned in June 2022, volunteer pilots with EA have discretely flown patients out of states with abortion bans to states where they can access an abortion [Courtesy of Elevated Access]
‘We’re on a mission’
Michelle, a 61-year-old college lecturer in English literature, has been a licensed pilot for more than 20 years. Her surname is being withheld due to EA policy to protect volunteers and patients as state legislators introduce dozens of laws and restrictions on abortion, sometimes imposing criminal penalties for those who help women and girls obtain the procedure. The week the Supreme Court released its ruling – which has led to abortion being effectively banned in 15 states, primarily in the South, and stricter gestational limits on abortion imposed in other states – Michelle signed up with EA.
When EA had launched just three days before the Supreme Court’s decision was leaked in May 2022, it had envisioned a relatively small operation, helping women and girls who would struggle to reach abortion clinic appointments. Then, when Roe v Wade was overturned, almost overnight, legal abortion clinics shuttered across the country, and the need for EA flights exploded. Michelle didn’t think twice about applying to volunteer. Within two weeks, she had her first mission. Michelle was initially nervous over the amount of coordination required for that first flight: She was simultaneously texting the sisters, the pilot she’d hand them over to, EA’s coordinator and flight dispatchers.
EA partners with local abortion access organisations, groups that aim to provide financial and logistical support for people seeking abortions. When appropriate, these partner organisations refer patients to EA. Most patients referred to EA have to travel for in-clinic abortions as opposed to medication abortions, where pills are used to induce a miscarriage, and are in difficult and isolating situations. “We’re not your first option, right?” Fiona, an EA spokesperson, explains over the phone, referring to the people seeking EA’s help. “If you’ve got a supportive spouse or a supportive mother and a car that works and savings, you can probably figure it out” and arrange travel to a state where abortion is legal. But, she says, those without such resources must “rely on the kindness of strangers”, including EA pilots.
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When Roe v Wade was overturned, Michelle was not convinced that protesting would help much. Instead, she felt that flying patients to abortion appointments was something tangible that she could do [Courtesy of Elevated Access]
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As more US states pass abortion restrictions, patients must travel farther to access an abortion.
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Protesters against further restrictions on abortion in South Carolina stand in the State House lobby in Columbia on May 23, 2023 [Jeffrey Collins/AP Photo]
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“We will need many more pilots to help if the entire South goes dark,” Fiona warns. Michelle knows that this may mean more and longer flights for volunteers like her. For now, she’s awaiting instructions for her next mission.
Source: Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/6/23/not-afraid-the-texas-pilot-flying-patients-to-abortions