Alison’s anxiety over her upcoming abortion kept pace with the rapidly spreading novel coronavirus. The Central Texas resident had decided to terminate her pregnancy in late March, but as public health conditions worsened around the country she was afraid it wouldn’t happen. With the global pandemic unfolding in her backyard, Alison scheduled her counseling appointment that the state requires before any abortion. Then she read the March 23 headlines: Texas’ Republican leaders were pursuing a COVID-19 abortion ban. The news gave her what she describes as a “pit of your stomach feeling.”
Alison called Whole Woman’s Health, the independent abortion provider that owns the Texas clinic where she was supposed to have a medication abortion toward the end of March. Whole Woman’s Health planned to challenge the ban in federal court, but the provider had to put 150 abortions, including Alison’s, on hold.
Alison—who, fearing professional and personal retribution, used a pseudonym to speak with the Texas Observer—was five weeks pregnant at the time. She wanted to reschedule the state-mandated counseling appointment and move forward with her abortion. Despite the ban, Whole Woman’s Health decided to continue providing medication abortions amid legal uncertainty, but the clinic couldn’t get her back on the calendar for another week. Alison couldn’t bear to wait that long, emotionally and practically. There was no guarantee that Texas politicians wouldn’t interfere after the counseling appointment and derail the actual abortion. “The longer this goes, the harder it’s going to be to make this decision,” she says.
