I heard you flew here from Texas? I say to my patient as I enter the room. Im so sorry you had to come this far.

We are in an abortion clinic in New York City, a long way from her home. As I sit down next to her, her eyes fill up with tears and she begins to tell me how she couldnt get an appointment in Texas. The demand is so high that they could only offer her an appointment three weeks out, she explained, and she knew by then it would be too late.

The famous Supreme Court case legalizing abortion in 1973, Roe v. Wade, made abortion legal up to viability, a nebulous concept that varies but is commonly defined as 24 weeks. In 2021, Texas enacted a new anti-abortion law (called SB8) that made abortion illegal past about six weeks a time when most people dont even realize theyre pregnant. Although this law is still being fought in federal courts, it has remained in effect for over eight months, which has directly impacted pregnant people that need to exercise their rights in a timely fashion. Every week, I am seeing more people from Texas with the same barriers to care.

The Supreme Court draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that was leaked earlier this week reveals that Roe v. Wade, and all subsequent cases reaffirming the right to abortion, will likely be overturned this summer. Its important to know that abortion is still legal in all 50 states. If you have an appointment, dont be afraid to go in and get the care you need. The leaked document is just a draft, and we cant be sure what the final decision will be, but we are bracing for the worst.

Lets be clear. Pregnancy is a deeply personal decision that should be left to individuals and their families. The criminalization of abortion will cause scrutiny of all pregnant people, and puts all of our communities at risk. The anti-abortion movement is a modern phenomenon that is rooted in racism and does not have a basis in our legal or religious traditions. The real issues we need to tackle are improving prenatal health care, including abortion care, and reducing racial and socioeconomic disparities. But we are not going back to 1973. The threat to our communities comes from anti-abortion laws themselves, not abortion.

Back in my office, my patients ultrasound shows that shes nine weeks pregnant. She expected this after all the delays caused by coordinating travel across the country. She tells me that she is staying at a hotel a few blocks away and the empty hotel room will be good for her. She has a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old at home, and they can make it hard to study. Dad is watching the kids and her grad school finals are coming up, so after the procedure today shell be able to focus on studying before her flight back tomorrow.

Flying to New York City for abortion care may seem unreasonable and for most people, this is inaccessible due to cost of taking time off work, finding child care, and paying for travel but people who can fly to New York are able to access health care without the medically unnecessary array of laws aimed at limiting abortion access in many states. These types of laws are commonly referred to as TRAP laws (targeted regulation of abortion providers). For example, many states require people to look at the ultrasound and wait 24 hours or more for a second appointment that is not medically necessary and only further increases the cost to the patient, causing them to spend more time away from home, work and family. Some states mandate that doctors give pregnant people medically inaccurate information about abortion by reading scripts written by the state filled with fear-mongering lies that abortion causes breast cancer (it does not ) or that it may impact future fertility (it does not ). Is there any other medical care where the law requires that doctors knowingly lie to their patients?

I am a family medicine doctor by training and I practice full-spectrum primary care in my clinic, with my patients ranging from tiny newborns to centennials. My practice has a focus on reproductive health, gender-affirming care and trauma-informed care, and most of my patients are reproductive-age people. In this position, I do cervical cancer screening and treatment. I place and remove long-acting contraception like intrauterine devices (IUDs). I offer prenatal dating ultrasounds, ongoing prenatal care for desired pregnancies, and, yes, abortion care. When someone walks into my office pregnant, I am ready to support them with whatever choice they make my patients dont have to be referred to an additional clinic in order to get the care they need for themselves and their families.