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Anti-abortion activists hope to reduce the number of abortions by picketing pharmacies that are dispensing mifepristone. However, the other side is not sitting still and giving up without a fight. The chosen weapon of the pro-choice crowd right now is not picketing, though, but instead opening new abortion clinics.
Illinois is an interesting state, abortion-wise. It has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, allowing the procedure up to 26 weeks—the entire first and second trimesters. It is also bordered by four states (Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana) with very strict abortion laws. Wisconsin, to the north, is more tolerant than these four, but still not as liberal as Illinois. The Prairie State is also within spitting distance (if you are a champion spitter) of another state with tough abortion laws (Tennessee) and a 2-3 hour drive from parts of Arkansas. So realistically, Illinois is within easy reach of people from six other states that ban most or all abortions and one that is more restrictive than Illinois.
Consider little Carbondale, IL, a small town of 22,000 and seat of Southern Illinois University. Here it is on the map:
All of a sudden, little Carbondale has not one, but two new abortion clinics. They provide one-stop shopping, with an ultrasound, lab tests, and an abortion all in one visit. This has economic consequences for the little town. Hotel bookings are way up, restaurants have more patrons, gas stations are pumping more gas, and other businesses have more customers as well, due to the thousands of people coming to the town for services unavailable at home. Setting up an abortion clinic is becoming a business model for small towns without much local industry that happen to be in the right places.
Dobbs is giving "border state" a whole new meaning other than the five states (Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware) that allowed slavery but did not secede and that (primarily) fought on the side of the Union during the Civil War. In addition to Illinois, there are several other border states that allow abortions fairly freely but border on other states that do not. New Mexico has borders with Arizona, Texas, and Oklahoma, for example. Clinics are springing up in the other border states, close to the border of states that have banned most or all abortions. And sometimes patients come from unexpected places. For example, the clinic in Cortez, CO, in the southwestern corner of the state, was expecting patients from Utah and Arizona. But instead, the majority of the women showing up are from Louisiana, South Carolina, or Texas.
Not everyone is happy with their "border state" status. Jeanne Ives, a Republican former Illinois state representative, says all new abortion clinics popping up along the state's borders pose dangers to young women. She said: "They come in for a quick in-and-out procedure, and a lot of abortions are not easy decisions. It basically makes it a drive-thru service decision and I think that's shameful."
Some of the biggest fights are along the western border of Idaho, which has one of the most stringent abortion laws in the country, whereas Washington and Oregon are much more liberal. Idaho is doing its best to make sure students at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID, don't know that there is an abortion clinic only 8 miles away in Pullman, WA. Idaho state law makes it a felony to use state resources to "promote" abortions (and also contraception), so a professor who told a pregnant student that there is an abortion clinic only 8 miles away could face prison time. Although, hoo boy, would that be a front-page case while it unfolded, with the anti-abortion side getting the majority of the and PR, we would guess.
And with that, we conclude today's update on the abortion wars. Tomorrow, we will put abortion aside, and run a bunch of items about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). We hope that you are not so giddy with anticipation that you are unable to sleep tonight. (V)