Woman who had tax-funded abortion says they 'help people in bad situations,' but critics decry public money for 'immoral act'
CHICAGO - The young woman didn't know how she could afford to keep the pregnancy she hadn't anticipated or prepared for as she neared the end of her first trimester.
Recently unemployed and barely getting by, she also wasn't sure how to come up with the money for an abortion, the choice she deemed right given her tight finances and life circumstances.
The 24-year-old with red highlights woven in a long braid contemplated selling her television or one of the few other items in her one-bedroom apartment on Chicago's South Side. She considered borrowing cash from family or friends but cringed at the imposition, which would likely require an explanation delving into her personal life and privacy.
"I don't have any help," she said, awaiting her appointment on a recent weekday at the Planned Parenthood of Illinois Near North Health Center in the Gold Coast neighborhood. "That's why I'm making the decision I am now."
The patient was surprised and relieved to learn state Medicaid would cover the cost of the roughly $500 procedure, the result of a controversial Illinois law that expanded taxpayer-subsidized abortions and went into effect Jan. 1.
"I didn't know what I was going to do," she said, asking to remain anonymous. "I'm thankful I was able to use the medical card because I don't have the money right
