What happens to clinics after a state bans abortion? They fight to survive

With fewer patients, clinics have to scale back, pivot or close. Ballot measures this November could restore abortion access — but may come too late.

By Shefali Luthra and Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th.

Voters in several states will likely have the chance to reverse their states’ abortion bans this November—but the election results could come too late for clinics that have been forced to scale back or even shut down while those bans were in effect.

A measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution has been approved for the November ballot in Florida, where abortion is currently outlawed after six weeks of pregnancy. Organizers in Arizona, which bans abortion after 15 weeks and where a near-total ban could briefly take effect in September, say they have enough signatures to put an abortion rights measure on the ballot.

Campaigns are also underway in Arkansas, Missouri, and South Dakota—where the procedure is almost entirely outlawed—to restore abortion rights via ballot measures. (The Arkansas measure would protect abortion up until 18 weeks of pregnancy.) And advocates are pushing for an abortion rights measure in Nebraska, where the procedure is banned after 12 weeks of pregnancy.