An Open Letter To Abortion Providers Across the United States,
First, thank you. For not only recognizing mine and a million other women's agency but for also actively choosing every day to protect and provide it.
Secondly, your dedication towards consistently providing women reproductive rights is one of the main reasons why I want to pursue being a doctor. Or at the very least, take the same courage, selflessness, and patience you evoke every day at your job to other aspects of my life because I know that something as trivial as walking to work becomes a battle in itself with a crowd of anti-choice protestors holding falsified pictures of aborted fetuses and screaming death threats.
We recognize the effort you put in to ensure these services are still relatively affordable, especially with the rising cost due to unnecessary TRAP laws designed to close down clinics like yours. Whether it is charging less for unnecessary second ultrasound visits or doing more jobs than simply your assigned one to keep the clinics open. We know that in this line of work there are never "slow days" because unfortunately there are not many others who are doing what you are doing regardless of the high demand.
We acknowledge how this job takes a toll both professionally and personally. Whether it's hospitals not giving you clearance because they are afraid of the backlash of having an abortion provider on staff or the personal fear every time your name appears on sites solely devoted to "eradicating murderers."
These are some places that you can donate or volunteer to ensure abortion providers get the help they need. Whether its offering twenty dollars or volunteering as a clinic escort, anything would help.
- Center for Reproductive Rights
- National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
- National Abortion Federation