Tuesday, February 01, 2022

Distances to Abortion Providers

 

Forty nine years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not excessively restrict a woman's freedom to choose to have an abortion. That right to choose is now under threat. This means that women in the United States may soon have to travel over a thousand miles to their nearest abortion provider.

Axios has created an interactive map which compares the distances that women currently have to travel to their nearest abortion provider to the distances they would have to travel if the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade.

It appears likely that the Supreme Court will flout the clear public support for abortion rights in the USA by overturning or significantly weakening the 1973 landmark abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade. Currently the average distance to an abortion provider in the United States is 25 miles. According to a new interactive map from Axios if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the average distance to an abortion provider will be around 125 miles. Of course some women will have to travel a lot further.

The interactive map provided in Abortions could require 200-mile trips if Roe is overturned uses the Myers Abortion Facility Database to show the current average distance to the nearest abortion provider for each county. It also allows you to view the projected distances to the nearest abortion provider if the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade (using a report from the Center for Reproductive Rights which names those states which are "highly likely" to ban abortion).

You can hover over any county on the Axios map to view the current and projected distances to an abortion provider in that county. For example, if you hover over Cameron County in Texas the map reveals that currently the distance to the nearest abortion provide is just over 50 miles by road. If Texas succeeds in banning a woman's right to choose the distance will be over 832 miles. This means that women in Cameron County will face a round-trip of over 1,600 miles to their nearest abortion provider.

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