The clinics did not close one at a time but in droves. Within four months of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022, dozens had been forced to stop offering abortions and 26 had closed for good. By November 2023, Idaho had lost 22 percent of its practicing obstetricians. Almost one million women and girls live in that state. There are now only around 200 such doctors qualified to care for them. Experts anticipate a grim reconfiguring across the U.S.—a concentration of practitioners who are equipped to treat pregnant people in blue states, an exodus of trained doctors in red ones.
For women nationwide managing both wanted and unwanted pregnancies, the effect of Roe’s overturning has been devastating. It stands to get worse. This summer, the…
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Harper's Bazaar (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024