Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a 2024 report from Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office reveals the decision caused ripple effects across Washington’s health care system.
While abortion is protected in Washington, the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization triggered an abortion ban in Idaho, causing some patients to seek care elsewhere.
In 2023, Cantwell, D-Wash., released a snapshot that showed a 56 percent increase in patients from Idaho seeking abortion services in Washington.
On June 24, the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs ruling, Cantwell joined health care providers and advocates at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle discussing the most recent report on how Washington is handling the influx of patients from states who have reduced access to reproductive health care.
“OB-GYNs (obstetricians/gynecologists) are leaving Idaho, creating access deserts. Idaho women are being airlifted across the border to get the care they need, and rape victims are being denied Plan B to stop unwanted pregnancies,” Cantwell said in a news release. “Idaho and the courts are leaving our rights in tatters.”
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky — the chapter that provides abortion care to residents in Clark County — has seen a 50 percent growth in out-of-state patients in the first half of 2024, communications manager Mack Smith said.
Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, which provides services to Portland residents, also recorded an increase in patients between 2022 and 2023.
“In a perfect world, everyone should be able to access abortion care close to home, but the post-Dobbs reality is that people are traveling to receive essential health care wherever they can find an appointment,” said Dr. Sara Kennedy, CEO of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette. “Abortion care at PPCW health centers has risen by roughly 29 percent from 2022 to 2023 since the catastrophic Dobbs decision.”
Cantwell’s 2024 report further detailed discussions with health care professionals across Washington, Idaho and Oregon, who revealed some Idaho OB-GYNs recommend pregnant patients purchase air ambulance insurance to be airlifted to hospitals across the border.
Obstetric nurses in Seattle reported treating women from Idaho with high-risk pregnancies who are staying in nearby hotels. Eastern Washington sexual assault advocates said their programs provide emergency contraception to Idaho rape victims who have been refused it in their state.
OB-GYNs say restricting access to abortion has ripple effects across all reproductive health services.
Dr. Vivienne Meljen is an OB-GYN for Sea Mar, a community health center in Vancouver. Sea Mar is federally funded and restricted by the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal dollars being used to provide abortion care. But Meljen said she has noticed the shortage of OB-GYNs across the nation, potentially causing gaps in access to care.
“There is a humongous shortage across the country. In Washington state, in particular, we do have a huge physician shortage of OB-GYNs,” Meljen said. “Alone, my group lost over 50 percent of our clinicians who did this care in the last year. So people are waiting two to three months to meet me just to get pills or to get IUDs because I can’t see them fast enough.”
Three days after Cantwell’s press conference in Seattle, the Supreme Court dismissed a case that would challenge the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal law that requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide stabilizing treatment to patients experiencing medical emergencies — which can include abortion care.
Dr. Maria Rodriguez at Oregon Health & Science University shared in Cantwell’s report that the impact of abortion bans goes beyond abortion care.
“You cannot isolate one area of reproductive health care without there being far-reaching implications. This isn’t just about people who have unwanted or dangerous pregnancies, it’s extending into people who have desired pregnancies,” Rodriguez said. “There’s still too much complacency with people not recognizing how integral abortion is to basic reproductive health care.”
