The proposed clinic would be in the Gulf of Mexico.
QUICK FACTS:
- A California doctor is exploring the idea of a “floating” abortion clinic to skirt state abortion restrictions.
- The doctor, Meg Autry, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as an OB-GYN practitioner, says it would be funded and managed by the nonprofit “PRROWESS,” or “Protecting Reproductive Rights Of Women Endangered by State Statutes.”
- Autry said that she hopes to “create options and be thoughtful and creative to help people in restrictive states get the health care they deserve.”
- The boat would sail the Gulf of Mexico and target the states of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, all of which have restrictive “trigger laws” in palace that will soon be active following the repeal of Roe v. Wade that took place just weeks ago.
PROWESS CALL TO ACTION:
- PRROWESS states on its website, “It is often very difficult and expensive for individuals who live close to the Gulf Coast to easily access care in a short time frame, due to distance to the nearest clinics and the need for connecting flights.”
- “Flying out-of-state often requires patients to secure child care and time off work for multiple days, and may not be an option at all for people who are undocumented. PRROWESS will offer easier and faster access to services for those individuals,” the group adds.
BACKGROUND:
- Abortion activists have been up in arms since the overturn of the federal protection for abortion rights.
- However, this isn’t the first abortion clinic to operate at sea. A Dutch organization runs abortion clinics at sea with ships that serve women from countries where abortion is illegal by transporting them outside their country’s jurisdiction.
