This story appeared in the Rapid City Journal (South Dakota) today under the headline "South Dakota abortions halted in March due to pandemic," with Arielle Zionts reporting. The story explains the long-time struggle for abortion access in a state where it is highly regulated and where the state's sole provider travels periodically from neighboring Minnesota to provide the services.
Here are some excerpts putting all of this in the context of renewed concerns that the right to abortion is under threat since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. The latter excerpts focus on access in rural parts of a state that is popularly thought of as rural in it entirety.:
Even if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, it won't change much for South Dakotans seeking an abortion who've had to travel out of state since March when the state’s sole abortion clinic stopped providing them due to the pandemic.
We “made the unfortunate decision to have to stop physician travel to South Dakota” out of concern for doctor and patient safety, said Emily Bisek, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood. "We hope to begin abortion care in South Dakota again as soon as possible."
Abortions were previously offered about once a week by doctors from Minnesota who traveled to the Sioux Falls clinic, Bisek said. The clinic remains open for other health care needs.
The clinic has trouble finding South Dakota doctors to provide abortions because "there's a stigma in South Dakota, and the onerous restrictions on the care itself make the procedure more time-intensive and challenging to provide," she said.
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[E]ven before the pandemic, many woman found it easier to take one trip to a clinic in another state rather than two trips to Sioux Falls, Bisek said. Other options include Billings, Fargo, Omaha, St. Paul, Fort Collins, Denver and Sioux City.The story quotes Kim Floren of Sioux Falls, a board member of the Justice Empowerment Network (JEN):
The need was already there and if Roe v. Wade goes away, it’s not going to be much different than it already is.
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Floren said abortion rights advocates believe telemedicine is a way to bring abortion to women who live in rural areas far from clinics. Bisek said South Dakota law doesn't allow women to be evaluated and prescribed pills for a medical abortion by an out-of-state doctor via telehealth.
My scholarly publications about rural women's access to abortion are here, here, and here.
1 comment:
Although I can imagine what the justification behind the law prohibiting women to be prescribed medication for abortions through telehealth is, I am wondering why it only applies to out-of-state providers. Also, although many South Dakota doctors are reluctant to provide abortion services, I'm wondering whether they would be more inclined to do through telehealth (assuming the prohibition on telehealth abortion services does not apply to them). Finally, would increasing free and accessible transportation to abortion providers in the surrounding states help women in states like South Dakota increase their access abortion? As someone from California, it's still surprising to me when I read about laws restricting abortion in other states.
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