OHIO — Women Have Options has changed its name to Abortion Fund Ohio, following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the implementation of Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban. The organization said it is Ohio’s only state-wide abortion fund.
The organization said it raises money to provide direct grant funding to clinics that help patients seek abortion care.
They said they also work directly with patients to help them with scheduling and covering the costs of the procedure, transportation, hotels and child care. The organization’s interim executive director, Maggie Scotece, said they’ve had to help clients pivot their plans out of state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade and enactment of Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban.
“Our clinics in Pennsylvania now are being flooded with clients coming in from states where they’ve lost access. So from West Virginia, from Ohio, from Indiana states like that, they’re having to push out wait times even further,” Scotece said.
She said since many of their clients aren’t aware that they’re pregnant until after six weeks, many of them will turn to out-of-state options, something she said is both more challenging and more costly.
“Once you get past 10 weeks, then the cost of the abortion goes up every two weeks. So that care is going to continue to get more and more expensive and can easily end up a couple of thousand dollars, especially if they have complications or need sedation or have any other specific medical needs,” Scotece said.
She said travel only adds to the cost.
“The travel distance is going to increase, so we expect, now that Roe has fallen, that Ohioans are going to have to travel an average of about 300 miles each way to access a clinic to receive that care. And so that means that they’re having to pay really high gas prices,” Scotece said.
Scotece said that despite laws against abortion, she is motivated by organizers, advocates and those in need to keep helping women access safe abortion care.
“We take care of each other, we provide for each other and abortion advocates like Women Have Options Ohio and our colleagues are going to continue to provide for Ohioans who need abortion care,” she said.
