1 in 3 Women Have to Travel Over an Hour for an Abortion Clinic: New Study
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One in three women of reproductive age in the United States now live over an hour away from an abortion clinic following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a new study.
On Tuesday, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a peer reviewed study analyzing census data from nearly 64 million women between ages 15 and 44 in the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.
Researchers found that women seeking abortion services had to travel more than 100 minutes to reach a legal clinic. Prior to the end of Roe, the average travel time to the nearest abortion clinic was reportedly less than 30 minutes.
"Estimated travel time to abortion facilities in the US was significantly greater in the post-Dobbs period after accounting for the closure of abortion facilities in states with total or 6-week abortion bans compared with the pre-Dobbs period, during which all facilities providing abortions in 2021 were considered active," study authors reported.
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The study also noted that more of the women who lived over an hour away from an abortion clinic were Black, Hispanic, and Native American. The groups are also more likely to experience pregnancy-related deaths, according to data from The Commonwealth Fund.
The Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, giving states the power to pass their own laws around abortion. Since the decision, 12 states have completely banned abortion services while several others have implemented highly restrictive laws for the procedure.
Last month, President Joe Biden promised that he would send a bill to Congress to codify the abortion rights protections outlined in Roe v. Wade, if Democrats are able to pick up seats in the midterm elections this week.
