In Missouri, the erosion of the right to abortion is already well underway. Legislation has already restricted it to the point where there is only one medical center left in the entire state offering pregnancy termination — and it just had some of its funding cut off.
“We are already operating in the post-Roe v. Wadeand that, for years, “because of all the measures already in force, launches Maggie Olivia, director of strategies within the organization Pro Choice Missouri.
A draft U.S. Supreme Court judgment released last week by Politico now suggests the ruling Roe v. Wade, which offers American women constitutional protection of their right to abortion, will be struck down. “We expected it. We always knew that Roe wasn’t safe,” says Mr.me Olivia.
“But it’s no less devastating when it happens. »
Access to abortion already varies greatly from one US state to another. Missouri passed a trigger law in 2019, and it is expected that if Roe v. Wade is revoked by the Supreme Court, an almost total prohibition of abortion will very quickly come into effect.
In the offices of Pro Choice Missouri, the disorder bears witness to the long hours of work accumulated over the past few days by employees. Because, in addition to the suspended fate of Roe v. Wadethey must react to the budget bill passed in early May by the State House of Representatives, which cuts funding to Planned Parenthood, the organization that operates the last medical center offering pregnancy terminations in Missouri.
Lawmakers want to block the organization from being reimbursed for reproductive health care — preventative care and birth control, among others — that is provided to members of the public Medicaid insurance program, which benefits citizens with very low incomes. state revenue.
“Preventive care is more necessary than ever, as abortion will be banned in a few weeks,” denounced May 6 Planned Parenthood, which promises to absorb the costs of this measure as long as it can.
“Extremists have been trying for years to go following [eux], in every possible way. It’s been part of their strategy for a long time, ”notes Maggie Olivia. The Missouri Department of Health notably refused to renew the license of the Planned Parenthood clinic in 2019. The organization then turned to the courts to invalidate this decision; he won his case in May 2020.
Cross the river
For years, many women wishing to obtain an abortion have crossed the Mississippi River, which separates the state of Missouri from that of Illinois, where the rules are less strict. Between downtown St. Louis and the nearest clinic in the neighboring state, it’s only a 20-minute drive.
Women go there in particular to avoid the obligatory waiting period of 72 hours between the initial appointment and the intervention which is imposed in Missouri. In this state, an abortion thus requires at least two trips: this is an additional obstacle for the poorest women, underlines Ms.me Olivia.
If there are not enough places available in the clinic – or if the women cannot afford to travel – they must carry their pregnancies to term: “This is the grim reality of the prohibition of ‘abortion,’ the activist says from the offices of Pro Choice Missouri.
The latter are also located in an industrial district of St. Louis with disused warehouses, clad in wooden planks, along the railroad. There is no indication that offices are there, “for the safety of employees,” says Maggie Olivia. “Our address is nowhere on our website. »
The question of security comes up once more and once more.
Lacking volunteers, the organization does not always manage to send teams of companions to the three abortion clinics in the area, the one in St. Louis and the two others located on the other side of the Mississippi. She has also been performing this task herself since her own abortion, “in support of other women”. “You have to be prepared to hear horrible and very vulgar things, but the contact with the patients — and their recognition — is worth it. »
This presence is necessary, she says, because those who oppose abortion are there “every day”.
At the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, on the Illinois side, Julie Dalechek stands by the gate. She jumps out of her chair as each car arrives and approaches the windows. The woman in her fifties wears the orange bib of those who are there for the Life Coalition. She distributes leaflets to new arrivals in the company of her husband.
Next to them is an easel sign holder on which is written ” sign-in ” (” registration “). Cars stop there believing that the staff of the clinic comes to welcome them: “It’s a bit misleading”, agrees Mme Dalechek with a smile.
She is showing her opposition to the Illinois rules. She feels that Missouri’s current waiting period is preferable, so that women don’t make “rash decisions” and have all the information in hand regarding their other options. “There, consent is informed,” she says.
Beyond abortion
Missouri recently tried to criminalize access to the abortion pill, says Maggie Olivia from her side of the river. And he succeeded in banning telemedicine for the first information appointment on abortions and for the prescription of the abortion pill, among other things.
Anyway, doctors in Missouri stopped prescribing it because of the mandatory state-mandated pelvic exam, says the pro-choice activist. “Disgusted” by this “unnecessary medical requirement”, which they equate to “state-imposed sexual assault”, they threw in the towel, she reports.
If it’s no secret that Missouri women seek services in Illinois, has the state tried to stop them? “We have seen several legislative attempts to ban abortions of Missouri residents in other states,” either through bills or through changes to laws, responds Ms.me Olivia.
The most recent measure is still pending, but the legislative session ends this week and the House of Representatives will likely not have time to pass it. “But I expect to see her once more in the next session,” she notes.
Pro Choice Missouri is preparing for this eventuality by focusing on “political education” of the population, by attacking misinformation and by disseminating the resources available for women. “We are going to fight constantly so that this does not become a reality”, promises the activist.
This report was financed thanks to the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund.The duty.
