roe at 40: the economic divide that denies low-income women their right to an abortion

[niyad]

'Roe' at 40: The Economic Divide That Denies Low-Income Women Their Right to an Abortion
by Bryce Covert

Happy fortieth, Roe! They say 40 is the new 20. And that might be fitting, because four decades later to the day it feels like in many ways we’ve moved back in time. While access to abortion is still in theory a right every woman in this country enjoys, an economic chasm has yawned between the well-off and the poor.

The Guttmacher Institute has some enlightening, if disheartening, infographics to celebrate the anniversary. As the first demonstrates, low-income women are the majority of those who seek abortions:



Their abortion rates are five times those of wealthier women. Yet it may be hardest for them to get the services they need. The average cost of a first-term abortion is $470, and many women are paying for that out of pocket:



A third of all abortion patients don’t have any health insurance to help defray the cost. Even so, most women don’t use insurance anyway – almost 60 percent pay out of pocket. Only about 20 percent use Medicaid, since those funds are prohibited from financing an abortion unless it results from rape, incest or endangers the life of the mother. Some states go even further in restricting its use, while only seventeen use their own funds to patch that hole for low-income women on Medicaid in need of an abortion.

But payment is only one piece of the puzzle. As the Nation editors recently noted, “87 percent of US counties lack an abortion provider, and several states have only a clinic or two staffed by a doctor who flies in from another state.” Thirty-five percent of all the country’s women live in those counties that don’t have a provider:



. . . .

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/01/22-11

[Starry Messenger]

1. I can't remember how many DUers snottily asserted during the Stupak flap

that charities cover abortions, or that they're practically free. I'm still pissed about it and that was two-three years ago. An yet, here we are, with poor women absolutely living in a world where abortion might as well be illegal, because access is practically nil.

[niyad]

2. I remember that, as well, and, like you, still pissed.