The Quickie: Even in Abortion Access States, Religious Hospitals Block Care

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: PPAA CEO Rebecca Gibron explains how religious hospitals block reproductive care, abortion rights add fire to the flame of upcoming VA elections, and PPWI commits to expanding abortion access in Wisconsin.

EVEN IN ABORTION ACCESS STATES, RELIGIOUS HOSPITALS BLOCK CARE: In a powerful op-ed for Ms. Magazine, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates president Rebecca Gibron reminds us that abortion access can be illusory even in states with protections. One culprit: religious hospitals, which dominate entire markets and leave patients in need of emergency abortion care without options. 

Gibron notes, “In recent years, there have been several hospital mergers in Washington with religiously affiliated healthcare corporations. In some counties, the only hospitals or healthcare facilities serving the public are religiously affiliated. The ACLU of Washington documented the horror of obstetricians as they referred patients to ‘faith-based’ hospitals who then refused or delayed terminations of pregnancies with complications, even if a patient’s health was at stake.” Almost half of the state’s hospitals are controlled by a religious group. 

And in Indiana, where a total abortion ban took effect in August, the state’s religious hospitals already have refused to provide care under the ban’s rape and incest exceptions — leaving people with only one hospital that can help. 

Read more at Ms. Magazine. 
 

ABORTION RIGHTS ARE FIRING UP VIRGINIA ELECTIONS: Early voting is underway in Virginia, where state elections will determine the fate of abortion access in the state. Already, reproductive freedom is firing up voters, volunteers, and candidates. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia (PPAV) executive director Jamie Lockhart told the Washington Post that volunteers are on track to knock 70,000 doors this season, with the number of volunteers more than double what it was in 2021. 

“It’s very clear what is at stake,” Lockhart said. “If antiabortion politicians win a trifecta, we know that they will attack abortion access in Virginia.” Virginia is now the only state in the southeast without a ban on abortion at 15 weeks or earlier, making it a critical stronghold for access. 

Tomorrow, Sept. 7, Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson will join Planned Parenthood Virginia PAC to launch a canvass in Leesburg. The canvas will launch at 10 AM. Reporters interested in attending and speaking to AMJ or Jamie Lockhart can email [email protected] to RSVP. 
 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WISCONSIN COMMITTED TO EXPANDING ACCESS: Last month, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced its decision to resume abortion care for the first time since Dobbs following a ruling that an abortion ban from 1849 is unenforceable. Despite that, Wisconsin still has many barriers to access, including waiting periods and restrictions on medication abortion.

“What I am focusing on is staffing models and trying to figure out how we get the most access for patients as possible, acknowledging that we have experience working within these restrictions before, unfortunately, but realizing that 24-hour waiting periods very frequently become much longer than  24-hour waiting periods, so figuring out how we can get those day one and day two appointments as close as possible,” Dr. Allie Linton, the associate medical director for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, told the American Independent Foundation. “Several of our physicians are covering multiple sites, realizing that that sometimes can create an additional barrier if a patient happens to see me and I’m only in Milwaukee the next week, and they live in Madison. How do we work around that?”

Read more in The American Independent