If the U.S. Supreme Court decides in June, as expected, that all states can limit abortions to the earliest stages of pregnancy or ban the procedure altogether, hundreds of thousands of Americans are likely to start traveling to states where abortion remains legal.
In preparation, lawmakers in those states are considering bills that would remove hurdles such as waiting periods and parental notifications, and some are proposing to help low-income patients by paying for travel and other practical expenses that add to the true cost of abortion care.
Abortion providers and rights advocates also are urging states to remove barriers both to telehealth and to medication abortion, expand Medicaid coverage of the procedure, ensure the privacy of patients, protect providers from potential lawsuits from other states and invest in training and facilities for abortion providers. They want to ensure adequate capacity for what likely will be a surge of abortion refugees in some parts of the country.
