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Julie Burkhart received a call on May 25th, indicating that Wellspring Health Access, her soon-to open clinic, was on fire.
This clinic would be the second to offer abortions in Wyoming and the only to offer the procedure to women who are not able to have a baby via pills. Burkhart stated that the clinic was scheduled to open patient services on June 13. However, the destruction rendered that impossible.
Officials concluded almost immediately that the fire was not caused by an electrical problem or accident. It was arson.
A woman described as “aEUR”, a white woman wearing jeans, dark hoodie, and a mask had entered the clinic with a large container of red gasoline and set the place ablaze.
It was a terrorist act. Burkhart stated to NPR that there is no other term for it.
It was heartbreaking, but also shocking that someone would act so recklessly to start a fire in an apartment next door. People were already sleeping in their beds.
She said, “It just demonstrated to me that there is a grave disregard for lives of people right there in my neighborhood.”
Burkhart points out that the clinic might have only been open for a few weeks based on what she saw in May’s leaked Supreme Court draft of opinion in Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This case resulted last Friday in the repealing Roe v. Wade.
She said, “We knew that with this decision coming down that it wouldn’t be long, but we would have something,”
Burkhart knows that the extreme violence of arson is a metaphor for the current situation in which reproductive health advocates find themselves. It has been like watching an uncontrollable fire grow closer to innocent people aEUR” with each passing state legislature in the past few decades.
This is especially true for supporters of abortion rights in 13 states that have preemptively passed “trigger legislation” to ban or severely limit abortions in the event Roe’s reversal.
NPR spoke to six conservative judges about removing half-century worth of legal protections for women seeking abortion. NPR also interviewed a few reproductive rights advocates, doctors, and abortion clinic escorts to find out how they feel and their plans for moving forward in a post Roe world.
We found a group of people who were bound together by great grief, frustration, and outright fury but who are all determined to continue fighting in any way they can. They claim that the fight over the right to abortion is not over. It will now be fought in courts and legislatures at state level.
They already see some glimmers or temporary respites. Half-dozen countries have challenged the new restrictive abortion laws as of the publication date. They claim they are against state constitutions. Some courts have already responded by issuing stay orders or restraining order against them.
Rachel Marsala, an abortion clinic escortee in Little Rock Ark., was willing to endure months of harassment.
For nearly a year, the 28-year old volunteered at Little Rock Family Planning Services. She walked pregnant women across the parking lot to the clinic. She heard what she called vile things daily from anti-abortion protesters outside the clinic during those months.
“They would say things such as, ‘Don’t kill me Mama! ” Marsala said.
She said that protesters became more aggressive in the days following the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion on Roe v. Wade. Last Friday saw Arkansas’ trigger ban implemented and the Supreme Court’s decision was made. At least one man became a vigilante after that.
Marsala stated that Marsala was taking down every vehicle’s license plates so that he could turn them in to police and bring them before they were prosecuted.
Since last week, abortion has been banned in the state except in cases where a patient’s lives are in danger.
Marsala stated that she is currently focusing on her breathing and reminding herself to exhale. She is also in therapy. This therapy is recommended for all, especially activists such as her, who might feel defeated by the court’s decision and those who will be affected.
Marsala stated, “Last Friday, we had no choice but to refuse a woman who had had her procedure rescheduled because she couldn’t afford it the first time.” “That’s one terrible story.”
For beleaguered reproductive rights activists fighting anti-abortion activists, she offers the following advice: “These people exist and they are mobilized. They’re ready for anything.” As defenders of choice, we must match their energy. “We have to be prepared to show up!”
aEUR” Vanessa Romo
For more information on Arkansas reproductive rights, visit KASU or KUAR.
Loren Colson is a family physician who is concerned about how a ban on abortion in Idaho could affect his patients’ safety and health. He also has legal concerns.
NPR’s John Heinz said that there are many situations in pregnancy that aren’t straightforward and that legislators didn’t consider when they made this law. He was referring to a ban on triggers that will likely go into effect in August.
If it does, it will replace current state law which allows abortions for most cases up to 24 weeks. It will also allow abortion in cases of incest or rape aEUR” provided the victim can show they have filed a police report or that the life of the pregnant person is in danger.
Colson offers “comprehensive reproductive healthcare” which includes “options counseling” aEUR. This means that he talks with patients about ending pregnancies. Colson expressed outrage at the new Idaho laws that place assault victims under such a burden. He says that most people who seek an abortion will be affected by the uncertainty about what constitutes a risk to their lives in the future.
A pregnant woman might not be in danger of losing their baby, but it could become a serious problem later on. Do they need to wait for that? He asks. Colson explained that this is the kind of legal grey area legislators still need help to resolve.
He said, “Pregnancy itself is a risk and has a higher death rate than abortion.”
He and his wife want to have a baby. They have undergone fertility treatment, which has resulted in embryos that they are hoping to use.
“If we don’t use all those embryos, is this law aEUR protected? And what can we do about them?” He was curious. “The state doesn’t define what is viable or what is considered a foetus in cases that it is not a simple pregnancy.”
aEUR” Emma Bowman
Boise State Public Radio has more information about the current state of Idaho’s reproductive rights.
Miranda Cisneros is a frequent participant in protests in Louisville. It took Miranda Cisneros a while to get ready to leave after hearing that Roe v. Wade had been overturned by the Supreme Court.
NPR’s She said that she was completely numb when she first heard the news.
She said that she is usually ready to act when we hear something, but she had to stop and think.
Cisneros stated that a lot of this anger stems from the election of Donald Trump. Many people told Cisneros she was reacting too quickly.
“I felt so gaslit during the 2016 election. Many people told us we were overreacting, and it wasn’t going to be a big issue, but we’re seeing the aftermath,” Cisneros stated. He was referring to Trump’s legacy which includes Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett who all voted against Roe.
Kentucky quickly passed state laws that prohibited nearly all abortions. On Thursday, however, a judge in Kentucky issued a temporary restraining orders, which allowed abortions to resume as normal.
Cisneros pointed out that the people most affected by Trump’s decision are not necessarily those who voted for him. She expressed concern for the Black, Trans and Disabled communities.
She said, “It is clear that the health care system was already designed to discriminate against disabled people.” “What about disabled people who become pregnant?” That is a conversation that I believe a lot people don’t have.
Cisneros stated that she would like to see more of such conversations. Cisneros also wants people to be uncomfortable and have meaningful conversations with their friends or family, as well as protesting.
aEUR” Wynne Davis
Louisville Public Media, Morehead State Public Radio (WKU Public Radio), WKU Public Radio (WKMS) and Louisville Public Media have more coverage on Kentucky’s reproductive rights.
ArsA(c).ne DeLay has stopped crying.
New Orleans-based activist and musician, 42, says she was overcome by tears at the conservatives’ continued gains against abortion access over years.
NPR’s DeLay said that she had shed tears in 2016 and that Donald Trump’s win in 2016 meant that abortion rights would be lost. DeLay said, with disdain: “We did it to ourselves as far the societal thing is.”
She continued, “As an African woman living in South, this is not new.”
The Louisiana trigger law, which was in effect last Friday after Roe v. Wade’s Supreme Court decision, is currently on hold. A temporary restraining order has been issued by a state judge to prevent Louisiana’s abortion bans being implemented.
If the trigger law is reinstated, it will only allow abortion in cases where the life of the pregnant person is at risk. A violation can lead to a felony that could result in up to 10 years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine, according to Guttmacher Institute. This reproductive health research organization supports abortion rights.
DeLay sees only one way forward: civil disobedience.
She stated, “At the end, the Supreme Court relies on society’s consent of this construct and frankly, I have not business or interest following laws that are unfair and that put women in danger’s way, especially Black and brown, Indigenous.” “I speak from personal experience aEUR” when such situations have arisen.
DeLay stated that access is the key to achieving abortion rights.
She said, “No one should go and invent it aEUR” and that she would support the helpers if they needed to set up a system to give people access.
“At the end, that’s all this is about.”
aEUR” Shauneen Miranda
For coverage of Louisiana’s reproductive rights, visit WWNO.
Rebecca Meador’s story begins with the story about the previous pregnancy. NPR reported that she had given birth to a boy when she was just 19 years old, while living in Mississippi.
She could not afford to raise the child and didn’t want an abortion so she adopted the baby.
She said, “Carrying a baby and growing it in your body, knowing that you won’t be there for its life, was traumatic and extremely stressful. I tried my best to continue working and going to school while pregnant.”
After the birth and adoption, she developed severe postpartum depression as well as agoraphobia. She was then forced to have an abortion one year later after she discovered she was pregnant again.
“I knew I couldn’t survive the postpartum depression and agoraphobia after having another baby. The shadow that I was living in from the grief of losing a child through adoption aEUR” wasn’t something I could do. She said it would cost her her life.
Lynn Fitch, the Mississippi Attorney General, certified this week that Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. This has led to a Mississippi state law banning almost all abortions. It will be in effect next month. Meador is now afraid that other women will experience the same pain as she did.
She stated that removing abortion care would be nothing but violence against women. The devaluation and exclusion of women’s lives is evident by the lack of health insurance access, inequal pay, victim blaming, and condemnation of women for living in impossible situations.
aEUR” Jaclyn Diaz
Mississippi Public Broadcasting has more information about the state of the region’s reproductive rights.
Hanz Dismer must leave Missouri every day to go to work. They have to cross the Mississippi River to get to the Hope Clinic for Women, Granite City, Illinois.
Dismer is both the education and research coordinator for the clinic as well as a licensed clinical social worker. Dismer stated that Roe v. Wade was something they knew, along with many other abortion providers, before the Supreme Court’s decision. This is why they began preparing for it well before Friday’s ruling.
Dismer stated, “In 2021 we saw patients in 19 states, so it’s not new for us to have patients travel from all over the Midwest and South to get care.” “We know it’s only going to get worse.”
Dismer stated that there are many telehealth protocols that were created to reduce COVID-19 and that they have helped to streamline the process. The Hope Clinic has also partnered with an Illinois Planned Parenthood facility to better serve the increasing number of patients.
Dismer acknowledged that some conversations can still be difficult as patients return to their states to ask about post-abortion treatment.
These are issues that we encourage you to talk openly with your healthcare providers, if possible. Dismer acknowledged that it’s sometimes not safe. Sometimes, it is not safe to tell your doctor that you had an abortion. They may be able to judge you, report you, or compromise the care you are receiving.
aEUR” Wynne Davis
You can find more information about Missouri’s reproductive rights situation at St. Louis Public Radio (KBIA, KCUR) here.
Sarah Haeder’s summer vacations weren’t the most typical when she was growing up. Haeder’s Irish Catholic parents chose places to visit not based on their attraction but because they could protest outside of the clinics that offered abortion.
Haeder explained to NPR that she grew up telling people about abortion and promoting the stigma for most of her life. “Then I went to college, and I took a women’s studies class. I also read a bell hooks book. It changed my life.
Haeder, who lives north of the Dakota border, stated that she didn’t believe everything she was taught growing up. When she became pregnant in a new relationship, Haeder decided to have an abortion aEUR. This was something she had never imagined.
She said, “I had an abortion here at Red River Women’s Clinic in 2006.” “I have wanted to work at this clinic since I first came into the clinic after receiving that abortion care.”
Haeder eventually found a job as an educator for patients and was able to quit her full-time job in order to join the clinic. She didn’t stop there. She felt inspired to return to school to pursue a nursing degree.
She said, “Now I am the head nursing here, and I couldn’t be more proud of what I do or where I am at.”
However, she has felt the weight of Roe v. Wade’s Supreme Court decision.
She said, “Ofcourse, it is a tragedy.” “If a human being does not have autonomy over its own body, then how can they have autonomy over themselves?”
“I was just thinking about all of the women who have so many obstacles, and then to have that one put up is just AEUR,” it feels like a huge blow and it’s hard to control your emotions.”
aEUR” Wynne Davis
Prairie Public has more information about North Dakota’s reproductive rights.
Dr. Alan Braid provided care for abortion before 1973 Roe V. Wade, when it was illegal widely.
He explained to NPR that he was an intern in 1972, before Roe. He saw women injured and those who had died from back alley abortions.
Braid, an OB/GYN, stated that he needs to reevaluate his clinic in Tulsa (Okla.) after the state’s trigger ban.
This trigger ban comes after an Oklahoma anti-abortion statute that was once the most stringent in the country. It now makes it a crime to perform an abortion and can result in a maximum of five years imprisonment. Only exceptions are made if the life of the pregnant patient is in imminent danger.
Braid doesn’t know what the future holds for his Oklahoma clinic, or his San Antonio practices. He currently resides there and is facing two lawsuits over the execution of an abortion against the Texas state law. The law prohibits abortions after six weeks.
He is also being sued. He said, “I have been involved in [opposing] nearly every lawsuit challenging the rights of women to choose their options.” He is one of many challengers who are trying to repeal the Oklahoma ban.
It’s evident that he is exhausted from the battle he has fought for the past 50 years in reproductive health care. It seems that a lot of his burden is lifted now that Roe has been overturned. Even though it contradicts his beliefs.
“I don’t want to abandon the Texas women and the people [who] serve me,” he said. However, he stated that he will be relieved “not having to worry” about the Texas legislature’s next session. This state has been plagued since 1978 when they passed all the [targeted regulations of abortion providers] laws.
aEUR” Shauneen Miranda
You can find more information about Oklahoma’s reproductive rights at Public Radio Tulsa, KOSU and KGOU.
Evelyn Griesse travelled to New York in order to have an abortion many decades ago.
The state’s trigger ban was put into effect by South Dakota Access for Every Woman hours after Roe v. Wade’s Supreme Court decision was announced.
NPR’s Griesse stated that “we will do our best,”
She stated that she has been encouraging and supporting women from across South Dakota for years because the access to South Dakota’s laws is so restricted, restrictive, and punitive that there is no reason to be loyal to them.
South Dakota Access for Every Woman was established in 1985 and has helped more than 140 women get abortions through financial assistance.
She felt a deep duty to all the women whose lives were cut by illegal abortions, and to all the medical and non-medical professionals who put their lives at risk to perform them.
Griesse observed that “Women are still feeling that sense desperation”
She said, “It is primarily the sense of desperation that keeps women moving forward and that obligation toward others who gave so much energy and their lives for helping women in crisis,”
According to the Guttmacher Institute, anyone who attempts or provides an abortion in South Dakota will now face a felony charge.
Pregnancies that result from rape and incest are not allowed to be exempt. Only exceptions to this ban are when the life of the pregnant person is at risk.
Governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem was very pleased with the ban. “We have prayed to this day, but now it’s here,” Noem tweeted last week, noting that lawmakers have plans for a special session “to save lives and help mothers” later in the year.
aEUR” Shauneen Miranda
For more information on South Dakota Public Broadcasting, visit South Dakota Reproductive Rights.
Dr. Aaron Campbell knew he wanted a career as an OB/GYN aEUR from the beginning. He even dressed up for Halloween as one when he was 14.
Campbell was inspired by his father, an OB-GYN who worked as the medical director at the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health in Tennessee. He died from a stroke shortly after.
Campbell returned home to Knoxville after his father died to carry on the father’s legacy. Campbell is now the clinic’s director.
Campbell said that “From the standpoint of someone who just completed OB-GYN residency right more than a year ago,” Campbell stated to NPR about the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“It’s a tragedy and devastating from the perspective of someone who does this type of work often. It’s disappointing and frustrating from my perspective.
Campbell already had plans to travel to continue his work in reproductive healthcare in areas that are close to the affected areas, even before the Supreme Court decision was made. Campbell stated that his goal was to provide safe abortions for those who want them.
“The policymakers and political elites are not going to suffer from this decision,” Campbell said. Campbell stated that the people most likely to be hurt by this decision are those who don’t possess the resources to have an abortion elsewhere.
He is concerned about the long-term consequences for women who are denied abortion access, including permanent financial and physical damage as well as possible life-long financial consequences.
This is not a decision that only affects them in the moment. The long-term effects of this decision, or their denial of it, will not only affect their health, but their entire life.
aEUR” Wynne Davis
For more information on Tennessee’s reproductive rights, visit WPLN
Adiana Vega was familiar with the realities of living in a post-Roe world even before Roe v. Wade was overturned last week.
Despite the fact that she discovered she was pregnant at an unusually early time, Texas’ SB 8 law (which prohibits abortion after detection of embryonic and fetal cardiac activity or approximately six weeks into a pregnancy) made it almost impossible for Vega, a Texas resident, to end her state-mandated pregnancy.
NPR’s 26-year old Dallas native said that she was only four weeks pregnant. She explained that even though she was able to have an abortion by the deadline, it was too late.
Texas legislators have attempted to reinstate an almost century-old ban on abortion in Texas, but a court issued a temporary restraining or that stops its enforcement. However, SB 8 remains in effect.
“On paper it seems like I would be able to get it,” Vega stated. All of this would have taken over two weeks. “Plus, I also had COVID.”
Vega is one of the few people who can access abortion outside of the state. She called her boyfriend, who is in Washington, D.C., to purchase a plane ticket so she could get an abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic.
She said that she can sweep it under the carpet and get on with our lives because we have the ability to make it disappear and then we don’t have to talk about the issue,” noting that not all women who have sought abortions are so lucky.
Vega stated that when deciding where to go, she had a to consider cost, how long she would have to leave work, and what she would face “the least humiliating.”
She was shocked to find the same anti-abortion activists in D.C. when she finally arrived.
She said, “It’s just further evidence that there’s not a place where pregnant women are completely safe.”
aEUR” Vanessa Romo
You can find more information about reproductive rights in Texas at KUT, KERA and Houston Public Media.
Angela Romero is a Democratic state representative from Utah who used to be against abortion.
She was raised Catholic in Tooele, Utah. Her upbringing made it difficult for her to make the decision to end her pregnancy.
She told NPR that she had witnessed women having abortions in her family.
After earning a bachelor’s in political science from the University of Utah, her outlook was changed.
She said, “Once I was exposed just to other thoughts and other worldviews it just really changed how I see the world.”
Romero, a college student who didn’t have health insurance, relied on Planned Parenthood services. The politician stated that she is now concerned about what might happen to people in marginalized and poor communities if they lose this kind of “lifesaving care” under Utah’s ban on abortion.
Last Friday’s Roe v. Wade decision was overturned and the law made inducing abortion a felony. There are exceptions to the law, such as if the pregnancy is caused by rape or incest. However, sexual assault victims must report the crime prior to seeking an abortion. However, the ban was temporarily suspended while courts prepared to hear challenges to this trigger law.
Romero stated that she is speaking out to ensure vulnerable women are not “left behind.”
“I get women coming up to me every day, thanking me for speaking what they wish they could. ”
Romero stated that no one should have to file a report with the police to prove they were raped by or violated within their own family.
She said that trusting women and their decisions is key. It’s difficult for them to go through all these hoops. A person might also be in a dangerous situation and don’t want their partner knowing that they are seeking an abortion.
aEUR” Emma Bowman
Utah Public Radio and KUER have more information about Utah’s reproductive rights.
Julie Burkhart had other plans even after she read the Supreme Court’s draft opinion. It indicated that Roe v. Wade would be overturned.
Burkhart, founder of Wellspring Health Access runs clinics in Oklahoma and Kansas that offer abortion. She was close to opening a Wyoming facility aEUR” up until last month, when there was only one abortion clinic in the state. A trigger law is expected to take effect this month.
It had been nearly two years in the planning of this wellness center and was scheduled to open patient services on June 13. It all went to ashes on May 25.
She calmly explained to NPR that someone had broken into the clinic in the early hours of the morning and set it ablaze.
She stated that the hope was to have at least a few more weeks to assist women in Casper and surrounding areas to get abortions without needing to travel all of the way to Jackson (which is approximately five hours west of Casper).
She said, “We knew that with this decision coming down, we wouldn’t be able to have long. But it would still be something.”
This was before a woman set the clinic ablaze. The suspect has not been captured by police, but video footage was released of her aEUR”. She is described as a white, medium-build woman, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall, and they are asking for the public’s help.
In the meantime, a trigger legislation is expected to be passed in the next few weeks. It will ban abortion in all circumstances, except incest, rape and if the mother is in serious danger of death or injury.
Burkhart pointed out the change in Wyoming’s political landscape, which was a historically libertarian state.
She said, “Here you have this small government keeping out people’s private life and their businesses. Then you fast-forward until Trump was elected. That is when the real s*** started.”
Burkhart is focused on the future and determined to not give up.
She stated, “We’re going be fighting tooth and nail in Wyoming to provide reproductive health services for Wyoming,”
aEUR” Vanessa Romo
Wyoming Public Media has more information about reproductive rights in Wyoming.
