Women from more states eyeing NH for abortions
Jul. 31—Women from more states are looking to head to New Hampshire and northern New England for abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court last month overturned a decades-old decision guaranteeing a woman's right to an abortion.
"We've just started to get our first calls from out-of-state patients that are a distance away," said Sandi Denoncour, executive director of the Lovering Health Center in Greenland.
In 2020, New Hampshire recorded 11,773 babies born, with an estimated 1,050 abortions performed here.
The Supreme Court decision on June 24 overturning Roe v. Wade left the issue up to individual states, which has led to shifting laws and court fights in more than a dozen states. In New Hampshire, abortion remains legal up to 24 weeks.
"It immediately threw the national abortion access picture into chaos," Denoncour said.
Typically, the Greenland health center, which offers abortions and family planning, see patients from southern Maine, northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It recently got calls from women in Georgia and Texas — two states in which abortions are strictly regulated or banned with limited exceptions.
The clinic also is seeing more women from Massachusetts who are choosing to go there because of longer wait times in their home state.
She doesn't expect a large surge of women to come to New Hampshire because "we're surrounded by less restrictive states."
In a mid-July update, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England said since the ruling, more than a dozen patients from six states outside New England have booked appointments for abortions in either New Hampshire, Vermont or Maine.
"We have seen patients coming from states where abortion is banned or deeply restricted, states like Texas, South Dakota," Planned Parenthood's Kayla Montgomery said in an interview.
Counting abortions
Getting information on the number of abortions in New Hampshire and demographics about those patients is difficult.
New Hampshire is one of only three states (along with California and Maryland) that don't compile and report such statistics to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"There are currently no statutory requirements for health care providers in New Hampshire to report statistics for terminations of pregnancy that occur before 24 weeks gestation," said Kathy Remillard, public information officer with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
"Over the past decade, there have been several unsuccessful legislative efforts to establish broad reporting requirements," she said in an email. "Opponents to legislation have cited resource constraints related to building a new reporting system, as well as concerns that intrusion into private medical decision-making outweighed the utility of the data."
The Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide, reported that 1,050 abortions were performed in New Hampshire in 2020.
"I would agree that's pretty close," Denoncour said.
"That sounds about right based on the numbers that we do," Montgomery said.
Neither Planned Parenthood nor the Lovering Health Center would disclose how many abortions they perform.
Jason Hennessey, president of New Hampshire Right to Life, said he thinks New Hampshire should collect statistics on abortions.
"It's a vital statistic, just like births and deaths," he said. "It's a number we should be keeping track of like 47 other states do."
Pill vs. procedure
Clinics offering abortion services may offer to perform a procedure or provide a series of pills, or offer both options, to terminate a pregnancy.
Under the medication option, a patient first takes one pill called mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486), which stops the pregnancy from continuing. The second medicine, misoprostol, causes cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus, according to Planned Parenthood.
The second round of medication is actually four additional pills for Planned Parenthood patients. The patients can take them right away or up to 48 hours after the first pill.
The abortion pills are different from the morning-after pill that women can take to avoid getting pregnant.
Before taking the pills, Planned Parenthood patients meet with health care providers to discuss their health history, options and questions they might have.
Within the past few weeks, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England began offering medication abortions via telehealth services to some patients, who must live in New Hampshire.
Planned Parenthood offers both the procedure and pill methods at its Manchester clinic and medication abortions only at its Keene location.
About 70% of abortions performed by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England are done by medication.
At Lovering, slightly less than half of its patients (48%) choose the medication option.
"They cannot get a prescription from us unless they come to the clinic," Denoncour said.
"We offer all of our patients a telehealth education session in advance of their clinical appointment," she said.
"A majority of people coming to us for abortion care are already parenting," Denoncour said. "These are people who have families and children and understand the decision they're making."
Planned Parenthood performs medication abortion up to the first 11 weeks of pregnancy. Lovering limits them to the first 10 weeks. Planned Parenthood performs in-clinic abortions up to 15 weeks and six days, a week longer than the Greenland clinic.
Denoncourt said the Seacoast clinic sees most people between eight and 12 weeks.
The clock starts from the first day of a woman's last menstrual period.
About half of Lovering's patients are seen for abortions. More than 60% of women having abortions leave that day with long-acting contraception, such as an intrauterine device, Denoncour said.
Fundraising impact
The cost of an abortion is around $500 for either method, but can be higher.
Planned Parenthood's fundraising has picked up amid fallout from the court decision.
"The 50% increase in grassroots donations from June will go to health care services to help pay for our sliding scale fee," Montgomery said. "Patients get the care they need, regardless of zip code, so if they can't afford to pay for any of it, PPNNE still provides care."
The Lovering clinic saw the number of donors in the past month match the number seen in 2022 leading up to the June 24 court decision.
The Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire, which helps pay for abortions for women in need, received "one really big-day rush" of donations in June, said Josie Pinto, co-founder and executive director.
"It shows you the media cycle and how quickly things come in and out of the news," Pinto said.
Since February 2021, the fund has given out more than $110,000 to 270 women, nearly all of them from New Hampshire, Pinto said.
NH Right to Life's Hennesssey said the Supreme Court decision didn't bring his organization more donations, but did refocus people on the issue.
"I think a lot of people are thinking about the issue of human rights in terms of the unborn, and I think that's a good thing," Hennessey said. "Every time you have a successful abortion, you have a child killed."
Hennessey said there are pregnancy centers around the state that offer free diapers and strollers "to support the family after the child is born" and will help find adoptive parents if women choose not to keep their babies.
Bethany Christian Services, which offers pregnancy support in Candia, is a multi-state organization that believes in the dignity of every life.
"We have always been and remain a life-affirming organization as we demonstrate the love and compassion of Jesus by reaching women and expectant parents who are facing difficult decisions and need to know support is available," Cheri Williams, senior vice president of domestic programs, said in an email.
