Opinion ID: 746244
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The National Shortage of Abortion-Related Services Forces

Text: Travel to Out-of-State Providers 43 Congress found that the interruption of abortion-related services due to the activities proscribed by the Act caused (or was likely to cause) women to travel from those states where abortion-related services were not reasonably available to clinics in those states where abortion-related services were reasonably available. The Senate Report states: 44 [B]lockades that make access to a health care facility difficult or hazardous can have traumatic effects on patients by delaying their access to urgent medical care and by exacerbating their medical conditions.... For patients seeking abortion services, the adverse effects of a clinic blockade can be particularly serious. Dr. Pablo Rodriguez described the effects on patient health: 45 'Our patients are the ones who suffer. Women who do make it in have a heightened level of anxiety and a greater risk of complications. The delay caused by the invasions has forced some patients to seek care elsewhere due to the fact that their gestational age has gone beyond the first trimester.' S. Rep. No. 103-117, at 15 (quoting testimony of Dr. Pablo Rodriguez). 46 The House Report reaches a similar conclusion. See H. Rep. No. 103-306, at 10. (In addition, patients often cross state lines to obtain services ....) (citing testimony of Silvia Doe). 47 Testimony before Congress made clear that activity proscribed by the Act delayed (and threatened to deny permanently) access to abortion-related services to women who, due to the existing shortage of such services, had traveled (or would be required to travel) interstate to obtain them. Silvia Doe testified about her decision to seek a late-term abortion after learning of a fetal malformation. She further testified that only three clinics in the country offer such a service. She was forced, by the shortage of providers, to travel from Virginia to Kansas. In Wichita, Kansas, she was delayed from obtaining her abortion due to a clinic blockade at the Wichita clinic. Clinic Blockades: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Crime and Criminal Justice of the Comm. on the Judiciary, 102d Cong., at 9-17 (statement of Silvia Doe). 48 The congressional testimony and the activity described in the committee reports provide sufficient evidence for the Congress to have concluded that entirely intrastate activity--here, the activity proscribed by the Act--had, at the very least, the potential to cause women who had been prevented from obtaining abortion-related services in their home states to travel to unobstructed providers in other states. 49