We Can't Give Up on States With Abortion Bans

[niyad]

We Can’t Give Up on States With Abortion Bans
8/10/2023 by Amelia Letson

On my campus and in advocacy spaces, I often find myself in the minority opinion, fighting for the states that so many have left behind. The response to Dobbs cannot be a tactical retreat.



A rally to protest the closure of the last abortion clinic in Missouri on May 30, 2019, in St. Louis. (Jacob Moscovitch / Getty Images)

As the first anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision approached, I sat in a training session with my student reproductive rights advocacy group, excited to hear from a longtime abortion rights champion on how we could continue strengthening our advocacy efforts as students in a state with a total abortion ban. I was taken aback when this leader advised me and my fellow student advocates to focus less on Missouri. This perspective that in our post-Dobbs landscape, we need to center our efforts solely on investing in abortion access in states where abortion is still legal is an increasingly common one among pro-abortion advocates and providers. It has left states like Missouri behind as the abortion rights movement has been forced into crisis management.
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Though abortion is banned in Missouri, state-level advocacy efforts are more critical than ever. In this year’s legislative session alone, 20 bills were introduced in Missouri targeting access to medical abortion, criminalizing interstate travel, and increasing barriers to access. Funding advocacy efforts in Missouri is essential for the same reasons that funding efforts in abortion safe-haven states are essential: We all still have a lot to lose. No state is too far gone for substantial pro-abortion political action. Just ask grassroots abortion advocates in states with anti-abortion-led legislatures—like Ohioans who fought hard this year to put a ballot measure ensuring the constitutional right to abortion. Advocates were also crucial in rallying voters last year to defeat anti-abortion ballot initiatives in Kansas and Kentucky and elect a pro-abortion judge in Wisconsin.


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No matter how many clinics are opened in neighboring states, the detrimental impact of the provider drought will persist as long as abortion remains inaccessible in states like Missouri. Already 47 percent of counties in Missouri are considered “maternity care deserts.” Just last month, a rural Missouri hospital closed its maternity care ward due to a growing shortage of providers, and 10 rural hospitals have completely closed in Missouri since 2012, exacerbating the maternity care crisis around the state. Because of Dobbs, more and more maternity care providers are forced to decide between providing the best possible care with significant personal and legal risk or moving to a state that doesn’t infringe on their medical expertise. The closing of this ward is a looking glass into the future for Missouri families if advocates cede to the anti-abortion narrative that states like ours are too far gone.

As we work toward a more equitable future where abortion and reproductive healthcare is accessible to everyone regardless of circumstance, we must continue to support workaround efforts that help people get the immediate care they need and support grassroots abortion advocacy efforts in states where abortion has been restricted.The response to Dobbs cannot be a tactical retreat. It took years for anti-abortion politicians to chip away and dismantle Roe. It will take years to rebuild past Roe toward homegrown and accessible reproductive healthcare in states like Missouri.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/08/10/abortion-ban-states/