Women Can Incur 'Catastrophic' Bills for Out-of-State Abortions, Study Finds

Follow Drugslib on

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Nov 8, 2024.

FRIDAY, Nov. 8, 2024 -- One piece left out of the abortion debate is the high transportation and medical bills facing women forced to leave their state to obtain the procedure.

A new study is the first to give hard numbers on those concerns.

It finds that, even before the fall of Roe v. Wade, 65% of women who traveled to another state to undergo abortion incurred "catastrophic" bills causing them to cut back on other necessities of life.

Especially for women from poorer households, these expenses "can be devastating and long-lasting ... triggering high levels of debt, financial insecurity, worsened health outcomes and increased impoverishment," noted a team led by Ortal Wasser. She's a researcher in the school of social work at New York University in New York City.

As Wasser's team explained, prior research has found that women seeking abortion are disproportionately uninsured and from low-income households.

The new study looked at data from before the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Even before that 2022 ruling, restrictive laws in various states had forced women to travel to obtain an abortion.

Wasser's group focused on 2019 data, gleaned from questionnaires 675 women filled out while waiting for an abortion at clinics in California, Illinois and New Mexico. More than two-thirds were seeking an abortion before or at 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Prior research has found that women who travel to seek out an abortion typically spend a third of a month's income doing so.

"Studies have also documented that, to pay for abortion care, individuals had to take out loans, sell personal belongings and forego essential household expenditures such as food, bills and rent," the researchers noted.

Their new study backs up those tales of hardship.

Overall, 42% of women who got an abortion, either in-state or out-of-state, incurred expenses "hindering one's ability to meet basic needs," the researchers said.

That number rose much higher -- to 65% -- when they focused on those women who also had to travel out of state for the procedure.

Having to scramble to pay bills or take out loans adds even more stress to an already stressful situation for women. As the data showed, incurring catastrophic expenses raised women's levels of anxiety and depression significantly.

"These financial and psychological burdens encountered by patients who seek abortion care are likely even worse in the post-Dobbs context when more people must travel longer distances and out of their state of residence to access care," the team wrote.

One solution, given current laws around abortion: Expand access to abortion care coverage via Medicaid or private insurance, the researchers said.

"The findings suggest a need to expand insurance coverage to ensure equitable access to abortion care, irrespective of people's state of residence," they wrote.

The study was published Nov. 8 in JAMA Network Open.

Sources

  • JAMA Network Open, Nov. 8, 2024

    • Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

    Source: HealthDay

    Posted : 2024-11-09 06:00

    Read more

    Disclaimer

    Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Drugslib.com is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Drugslib.com information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Drugslib.com does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Drugslib.com's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Drugslib.com's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners.

    The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way should be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safe, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Drugslib.com does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the aid of information Drugslib.com provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.

    Popular Keywords