Feminist Peace Network

Last year, Mississippi became the only state in the country where abortion can only be performed during the the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Coupled with a 24 hour waiting period, women, especially poor women, are finding it very difficult to obtain abortions in that state. Sharon Lerner writes in an article posted on Salon,

“In Mississippi and elsewhere, poverty plays a huge role. Federal legislation known as the Hyde Amendment forbids the use of federal funding for most abortions. So many women scrounge for the $380 price of a first-trimester abortion. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization decreases the fees by up to $75 for the poorest women, but, according to clinic staff, even that is sometimes not enough.

The time women spend trying to scrape together that money can easily push them past the now-crucial 12th week, and into the second trimester, when abortions are both riskier and more expensive.

Sixty-seven percent of poor women having an abortion say they would have preferred to have had it earlier, according to a 2004 study published in the journal Contraception. Specifically, researchers have determined that poor women take both additional time in confirming a pregnancy and several more days between making the decision to have an abortion and actually obtaining one. In Mississippi, where 98 percent of counties don’t have an abortion provider, the logistics of getting the procedure can be particularly daunting: First there is the long drive to Jackson, then the phalanx of protesters surrounding the clinic, followed by the two-day ordeal that begins with the informational session and ends, finally, with the abortion.

No one knows for sure what now happens to the women with unwanted pregnancies in Mississippi who have progressed beyond 12 weeks. In the year since the law went into effect, the clinic has performed 458 fewer abortions than the previous year.”

Please check out the link above for the rest of this must read article.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Atrocities