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NFPRHA's Position

NFPRHA supports access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion. Abortion care is an essential health service that must not only be legal, but also affordable and accessible to all people who seek it, and one that clinicians must be able to provide without facing civil or criminal penalties or threats to their or their patients’ safety. NFPRHA strongly condemns the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and end nearly 50 years of a constitutionally protected right to abortion. This ruling puts the health and lives of millions of people across the country in immediate jeopardy and disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and other people of color; LGBTQ people; people with disabilities; people with no or low incomes; and young people. 

 

NFPRHA offers this resource hub to assist family planning providers in better understanding the impact of the Court’s ruling and to connect individuals and organizations with up-to-date resources. The information provided below is not, and is not intended to provide, legal advice to any entity or individual nor is it intended as a solicitation; entities and individuals should consult with their own legal counsel as to the impact of any information provided on this page for their health system, service site, or person. 

Legal Landscape for Abortion

  • The legality of abortion varies from state to state and is likely to continue changing. To identify current laws in a particular state, visit Abortion Finder’s State-by-State Guide and Guttmacher Institute’s Lay of the Land
  • States where abortion is legal may still have restrictions on the use of medication abortion and/or require parental involvement if someone under the age of 18 needs to access abortion care.   
  • Additional legal and practical barriers exist for many people, including people living with no or low incomes, people who receive health care coverage through the federal government (such as Medicaid or the Indian Health Service), people who live in border areas and do not have the residency documentation needed to cross internal immigration checkpoints, people in state or federal custody, people with disabilities, and people under guardianship. Local abortion funds or abortion providers may be able to provide more information about access options for someone in one or more of those circumstances in a particular state.    
  • In practice, access to abortion care and even referrals for abortion care may be chilled beyond what is prohibited by state law as clinics navigate ambiguous language in state prohibitions, aggressive and/or disparate enforcement, and a dynamic legal landscape due to litigation.  

Entities That Can Help People Access Abortion Care

Abortion providers:

Many health centers offer abortion care, including Planned Parenthood affiliates and independent (non-Planned Parenthood) providers. The majority of abortions are provided by independent providers, but the public is often less familiar with such entities. To locate all abortion providers, including telehealth options where available, in a particular area, visit ineedana.com or abortionfinder.org. Patients can also call or chat with the National Abortion Hotline to locate a provider accredited by the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and access funding support for those health centers.  

Abortion funds:

Abortion funds are entities that provide financial support to individuals who need assistance paying for their abortion care. Abortion funds may also serve as practical support organizations. Abortion funds vary widely in their funding and staff capacity and typically have geographic restrictions on where they provide support. In addition, some abortion funds are only providing limited services due to legal restrictions in their states. To find an abortion fund that works in a particular state, visit abortionfunds.org/need-abortion/. Note that it is often easiest to get support if patients make an appointment with a health center and ask what funds that health center works with rather than starting with the fund itself.  

Practical support organizations (PSO):

PSOs provide resources, such as lodging, travel assistance, child care subsidies, and coverage for miscellaneous costs, to make it feasible for individuals to access abortion care. Some abortion funds are also PSOs. If they are separate, abortion funds and PSOs typically work closely together to ensure wrap-around coverage for people seeking abortion care. To find a PSO, visit apiaryps.org/pso-list.  

Health Insurance:

People are often not aware that their health insurance may cover abortion care. Many private insurances plans cover abortion care, as does Medicaid in 16 states. If a patient does not have health insurance, their insurance does not cover abortion care, abortion providers in their area do not accept their insurance, or they cannot use their health insurance for confidentiality reasons, an abortion fund may be able to assist.  

Resources for Offering Medication Abortion Services 

  • The Medication Abortion Pharmacy Advisory Group has information on the January 2023 updates to the mifepristone REMS, including criteria for providers and pharmacies to prescribe and dispense, respectively, the medication.   
  • The Reproductive Health Access Project provides technical assistance to primary care providers, FQHCs, and Title X-funded agencies that want to offer abortion care outside of their federal grant-funded projects.   

Additional Resources for Patients & Providers

  • The US Department of Health and Human Services hosts reproductiverights.gov, which explains people’s right to access abortion, contraception, and other related health care services. This website lists abortionfinder.org among its resources.  

  • As some states criminalize seeking and/or obtaining abortion care, experts expect an increase in investigations of and potential prosecutions related to any pregnancy that does not result in a live birth, such as a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, especially for pregnant people of color. Pregnancy Justice (formerly known as National Advocates for Pregnant Women) provides legal support to individuals in these situations. 

  • The Abortion Defense Network provides legal support to individuals and organizations that provide abortion and/or help people access abortion care.  

  • Exhale Pro-Voice hosts a hotline (617-749-2948) for nonjudgmental post-abortion support from volunteer peer counselors.  

  • In some states, people under the age of 18 need to notify a parent or guardian of their decision to have an abortion or to obtain a parent’s consent. Furthermore, some states require notification or consent of both parents. Most patients do have the option of accessing a judicial bypass to access abortion care without parental involvement, though the process is often challenging. If/When/How operates a Judicial Bypass Helpline that may be able to assist a young person navigating this process.  

  • If someone has questions about managing an abortion or miscarriage, the M&A Hotline can connect them to medical professionals, the Repro Legal Helpline can connect them to legal experts, and Reprocare can provide peer-to-peer counseling, referrals, and medical information. The M&A Hotline and Reprocare both provide links to information on where to access the necessary medications for a self-managed medication abortion.  

  • The Digital Defense Fund (DDF) has published a Pregnancy & Abortion Privacy Guide that includes detailed instructions, limitations, and threat modeling considerations about abortion and digital security. DDF has additional information on digital safety for individuals seeking abortion, providers, and abortion supporters in this blog post 

 

NFPRHA offers this resource hub to assist family planning providers in better understanding the impact of the Court’s ruling and to connect individuals and organizations with up-to-date resources. The information provided is not, and is not intended to provide, legal advice to any entity or individual nor is it intended as a solicitation; entities and individuals should consult with their own legal counsel as to the impact of any information provided on this page for their health system, service site, or person.

For additional resources & information, access NFPRHA fact sheets and federal comments by issue or read NFPRHA's publications and recent press statements. 

National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association

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Phone: 202-293-3114  |  info@nfprha.org

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