Will coronavirus close abortion clinics as states halt ‘nonessential’ procedures?
Hospitals across the country are following federal guidelines to postpone elective surgeries, but what about abortion clinics?
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told two abortion clinics to halt elective and nonessential surgical procedures, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The attorney general’s office said it received complaints about the clinics continuing to provide the services, according to the newspaper.
On Tuesday, the state ordered hospitals to stop elective and nonessential procedures to preserve personal protection equipment needed to fight the coronavirus, The Plain Dealer reported.
The letters went to the Women’s Med Center in Dayton and Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s Cincinnati Surgery Center, WBNS reported.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio said its clinic is complying with the order, The Plain Dealer reported.
“Under that order, Planned Parenthood can still continue providing essential procedures, including surgical abortion, and our health centers continue to offer other health care services that our patients depend on. Our doors remain open for this care,” the organization told The Plain Dealer.
The question of whether the clinics can continue providing surgical abortions may depend on what’s considered “non-essential.”
“The government should not use this crisis as an excuse to target abortion clinics and attempt to take away the ability of Ohioans to access abortion, which is time-sensitive and essential health care,” Freda Levenson, the legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, told CBS News.
A group of gynecological organizations released a statement saying access to abortion should remain during the pandemic.
“Abortion is an essential component of comprehensive health care. It is also a time-sensitive service for which a delay of several weeks, or in some cases days, may increase the risks or potentially make it completely inaccessible,” the consortium said. “The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.”
In New York, which has over 11,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 56 deaths, Planned Parenthood clinics remained open, BuzzFeed News reported.
“We’re complying with all the CDC and Department of Health Guidelines,” Meera Shah, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood in the New York City suburbs, told BuzzFeed News. “But everyone is still showing up, you know, because somebody wanting an abortion is still going to want an abortion despite there being a viral outbreak.”