The dust is still settling after Election Day 2016, and the one thing everyone can agree on is that it will be a completely different landscape for women when it comes to accessing reproductive health care in 2017. I decided to research some of the biggest questions about what is and isn't likely to occur over the next 4 years.
Will It Be Illegal To Get An Abortion In The United States?
Probably not. Even if President-elect Donald Trump does follow through on his campaign promise to elect judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion will not be completely illegal in the U.S. Reversing the case would send the issue back to the states, and each one would once again get to decide whether to criminalize the procedure. In order to make abortion illegal in every state, there would need to be a constitutional amendment, which would declare the right to life begins at conception.
How Bad Would It Be If Just Roe v. Wade Is Overturned?
The next president told CBS's Lesley Stahl that if Roe is reversed, it wouldn’t be a big deal since pregnant people would just “have to go to another state.” But it’s really a much bigger deal than that. If states had the ability to decide on their own whether to make abortion illegal, it is likely that about 30 of them would ban the procedure, and most of them would be in clusters. We would be left with abortion mostly legal on the West Coast, as well as most of the Northeast. Meanwhile, almost every state in the Midwest and South would likely criminalize terminating a pregnancy.
What Happens If A Person Lives In A State Where Abortion Is Illegal?
If you have enough money, probably not too much. With a car or the funds for a plane ticket, and the flexibility to be away from home for a few days, you likely will be able to head to New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, or one of the other large cities where abortion is likely to still be available. Wait times for appointments will be the biggest barrier to overcome, and some may not be able to arrange travel and an appointment before the window closes. Also, it will likely become impossible for a minor to get an abortion without involving her parents if she doesn’t live in one of these legal states.
How Would I Pay For An Abortion? Will My Insurance Cover The Cost?
With Congress intent on repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, it is likely that any insurance plans that they do offer in their new health-care proposal will not offer any coverage for abortions at all. A number of states previously passed local laws forbidding public insurance (and in some cases even private insurance) plans offered in their states from covering abortion, and that may very well expand in the next year or two. Even worse, it’s likely that these new restrictions are not going to allow exceptions for sexual assault.
What About Birth Control? Is That In Trouble Too?
That will mostly depend on where you live, what sort of insurance you have, where you work or go to school, and a variety of other factors. The president-elect has promised to repeal Obamacare, which made birth control without a co-pay a part of every insurance plan, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan avoided answering the question of whether the Republican replacement will keep that mandate in place. If it is still included in all plans, employers probably will have an even bigger option of opting out by saying they object to it morally. That also means that doctors will be more protected if they don’t want to prescribe contraception, and pharmacists won’t be punished for not filling it. For people who live in small towns with only one or two pharmacies, that could be a big problem.
Is over-the-counter birth control still a thing?
If the Republican majorities are really going to defund Planned Parenthood, and limit or rescind no co-pay birth control, well, they are going to have to do something to try to offset that and not look like they are simply anti-sex. Their answer was a push to make birth control available over the counter. That’s still a good thing, but it also has flaws — it’s more accessible, yes, but can be more expensive in the long run, is less effective than long-lasting reversible contraception like IUDs and implants, and it may not be available at every pharmacy or drugstore.
We can't panic yet, politics is a slow process and nothing will change overnight. In the meantime, maybe grab a small stockpile of emergency contraception. You know, just in case.
