Where is abortion legal? In red states, women navigate a chaotic abortion landscape
ATLANTA — The impact was immediate: the moment the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, Robin Marty, the operations director of the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa, told nurses, desk staff and a doctor on Friday they could no longer provide abortions.
“I can’t believe they f------ did it,” she said via phone. “You have to stop now!”
Just as Roe was a landmark case for women’s rights in 1973, its reversal today is a resounding, if expected, ruling that will again reshape abortion in this volatile and divided nation. It left millions of women in conservative states wondering what their options were. Marty’s clinic staff had to tell more than 20 patients in their waiting room that they could continue their ultrasounds and counseling, but could not perform their abortions. Then they began calling up about 100 patients, one by one, to cancel appointments and refer them to a clinic about 200 miles away in Atlanta.
But the Atlanta clinics may not remain open for much longer. Georgia lawmakers passed a strict law in 2019 outlawing most abortions once fetal cardiac activity is detected, typically at around six weeks of pregnancy. The law is currently blocked by the courts but is likely to take effect this summer.
Over the next few days, weeks
