A group of abortion providers Monday said they were exhausted, frustrated, fearful for themselves and their patients and worried about health care in general for women in an era when the right to an abortion is tenuous at best.
“Our patients are terrified,” Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung told U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo and other doctors and clinic heads who perform abortions in Colorado. “Some are afraid they are going to be arrested in the airport…they are afraid of going back home and their own doctors finding out what they did here. They don’t know who they can trust.”
The rapid influx of patients is adding to wait times and straining personnel in hospitals and clinics in Colorado and other states who provide legal abortions, said Caraveo who heard from Spung and seven other providers at a sit-down meeting in Thornton.
The providers said they have seen a huge upswing in patients from out of state wanting to get abortions in Colorado after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in June 2022. Roe, which would have turned 51 years old Monday, guaranteed a woman a nationwide right to get an abortion.
After Roe was erased, women flocked to states like Colorado that allowed abortion. Zhedi-Spung, a member of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said clinics have seen eight times the number of patients shortly after the Roe decision.
She said she left her practice in Tennessee over fears she would be prosecuted for providing abortions in that state.
“There is a real climate of fear out there,” Zhedi-Spung said.
“We’re just tired, just so tired,” Dr. Emily Schneider, Physicians for Reproductive Health, told Caraveo.
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Caraveo said a bill she is co-sponsoring in the U.S. House will establish a grant program to increase capacity to provide abortion services and other reproductive health care services for millions of women nationwide.
Colorado’s abortion clinics are the closest providers for about 1.2 million women from surrounding states, which is taxing health care facilities in the state.
“This is something we have to do to make sure women are getting the health care they deserve,” Caraveo said.
The ACCESS Act would allow eligible hospitals and clinics where abortion services are legal out of the permissible exceptions would be able to apply for funding to expand their capacity to provide abortion care to accommodate both in-state residents and out-of-state individuals, according to a Caraveo news release.
The grant, according to the news release, could pay for:
- Expanding the facility to include more exam, operating and recovery rooms;
- Purchasing medical supplies to provide reproductive and sexual health care;
- Administering telehealth services, including audio, text and video messaging;.
- Contracting or hiring necessary staff and personnel;
- Training programs to increase support staff;
- Creating accurate and educational patient resources;
- Interpretation and translating services;
- Referrals and counseling; and
- Recovery care.
In the first 100 days after Roe. v. Wade was upended, more than 60 clinics in 15 states stopped providing abortion services. Additionally, roughly half of U.S. states now have laws that restrict or ban abortion services, according to the news release.
Meanwhile, 11 states have reported appointment wait times of more than five business days and four states have wait times of over a week, the news release states.
Caraveo, a medical doctor, admits that her bill is not likely to make it through the Republican-dominated House. Still, the effort is worth it to at least get the issues facing abortion providers in the forefront.
“This is something that we need to do, create great facilities that take care of all women’s needs,” Caraveo said.
She said she knew there were significant obstacles to women getting an abortion in Colorado. She just wanted to make sure people on the ground were able to tell her directly about the problem abortion providers face.
“It’s good to hear from them, and to let them know I am with them,” Caraveo said.