Via the Wonk Room, a new Guttmacher Institute survey found that poor women make up an increasing percentage of women seeking abortion services, and that 57 percent of women who obtain abortions pay out of pocket for the procedure. That's true regardless of whether they have insurance -- in fact, the survey found that patients were pretty evenly divided between those who have private, public, or no insurance.
The institute attributes some of the growth to the economic recession, which both means that women want to delay having children until they can better afford it, but also can't afford the birth control that would allow that to happen. Many clinics lower costs or ask patients to pay on a sliding scale to meet the abortion need.
'Gaps in unintended pregnancy and abortion between poor and more affluent women have been increasing since the mid-1990s, so—sadly—none of this comes as a surprise,' says Sharon L. Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. 'Reproductive health disparities, and health disparities more generally, are endemic in this country and stem from broader, persistent economic and social inequities. We need to bridge these reproductive health gaps by ensuring that all women, regardless of their economic circumstances, have meaningful access to the full spectrum of information and services—both contraceptive services to reduce levels of unintended pregnancy and abortion services.'
As Igor Volksy at the Wonk Room notes, social stigma may explain why women pay out of pocket for abortions even when their health insurance covers it, and the health-care reform bill, which segregates abortion coverage in the exchanges, isn't likely to help. But it's hard to predict what will happen once health-care reform kicks in and makes coverage better for women overall. Not only could many women who don't now have insurance have better access to regular gynecological exams and birth control, but they'll also just be more engaged with the health-care system. My only hope is that, once that's true, the number of women who are really involved in their health-care system will grow, and more women will wonder why a legal procedure isn't included in their coverage. They might then start to demand something different.
-- Monica Potts
