This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
Objectives
Explore pregnant Texans’ decisions about where to obtain out-of-state abortion care
following the September 2021 implementation of Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which prohibited
abortions after embryonic cardiac activity.
Methods
To recruit Texans who obtained out-of-state abortion care after SB8, we provided flyers
to abortion facilities in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New
Mexico, and Oklahoma. Between October 2021 and February 2022, we conducted in-depth
telephone interviews with English-speaking participants ≥18 years of age who self-referred
to the study to explore their experiences seeking care. We used inductive and deductive
codes in our thematic analysis describing people's decisions about where to obtain
care and how they evaluated available options.
Results
The 65 Texans who participated considered multiple factors when deciding where to
obtain out-of-state care. Participants prioritized facility proximity and appointment
availability. The majority called multiple facilities in surrounding states to find
the earliest appointment, and were often told the next appointment was 2–4 weeks away.
Some ultimately obtained care at a more distant location that had an earlier appointment,
and others waited because they could not travel farther. Participants considered the
economic hardships of caregiving responsibilities, lost wages, and travel expenses
when weighing the tradeoffs between appointment availability and facility proximity,
but few mentioned comparing abortion prices at different facilities. Informative facility
websites and compassionate scheduling staff solidified participants’ choice of care.
Conclusions
Pregnant Texans who could not get an in-state abortion after SB8 made difficult tradeoffs
when deciding where to obtain out-of-state care that made seeking services burdensome.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to ContraceptionAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
