美国国家公共电台 NPR--Abortion is legal in Illinois. In Wisconsin, it's nearly banned. So clinics teamed up

Abortion¹ is legal in Illinois. In Wisconsin, it's nearly banned. So clinics teamed up

Transcript²

Around two days a week, Natalee Hartwig leaves her home in Madison, Wisconsin, before her son wakes up, to travel across the border into Illinois.

"Luckily it's summer," said Hartwig, a nurse midwife at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. "For now he can sleep in. But any getting ready that has to happen will be on my spouse³."

She drives at least two hours each way, immersed in audiobooks and podcasts as she drives to a clinic in the northern Illinois suburb of Waukegan. She spends her days in the recovery room, caring for patients who had abortions⁴ and checking their vitals before they go home. She also got licensed⁵ in Illinois and trained to provide medication abortion, something she'll be able to do virtually through telehealth with patients across Illinois.

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This story was produced in partnership⁶ with Kaiser Health News.

Hartwig is essentially⁷ working part time in Illinois because when Roe⁸ v Wade⁹ was overturned in June, a Wisconsin law immediately took effect that bans nearly all abortions, except to save the life of the pregnant person. Wisconsin providers want to preserve access for patients, while those in Illinois – long an oasis¹⁰ for abortion rights – need more staff to help treat a surge of people arriving from across the U.S.

The Waukegan clinic is Planned Parenthood of Illinois' busiest for out-of-state abortion patients. After Roe fell, 60% of patients came to this clinic from outside the state – mostly from Wisconsin. In fact, the organization opened in Waukegan two years ago with Wisconsin in mind, knowing that if Roe v. Wade did fall, access to abortion in that state would greatly diminish.

After Roe was struck down, Planned Parenthood organizations in both states announced their partnership. More than a dozen employees from Wisconsin – including doctors, nurses and medical assistants – now commute¹¹ to Waukegan to help provide care.

"It really required this perfect pairing of supply and demand," said Kristen Schultz, Planned Parenthood of Illinois' chief strategy and operations officer. "They had capacity without local demand, and we had the opposite."

In the month after the U.S. Supreme¹² Court overturned the landmark¹³ decision, Illinois became even more of an oasis for people seeking abortions. Dozens of clinics closed across the nation as 11 states in the South and Midwest implemented¹⁴ bans, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that supports abortion rights and tracks the issue.

The influx¹⁵ of patients into Illinois has had another impact. For years, abortion providers have been traveling once or twice a month to other states like Kansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma, where their help was badly needed.

Chicago OB-GYN Dr. Laura Laursen was one of them.

"Now the script is totally flipped," said Laursen, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. "This is where you are needed more than anywhere else."

Anti-abortion groups oppose the Planned Parenthood partnership and are preparing for a marathon effort to restrict abortion rights in Illinois. In a statement after the organization's announcement, Amy Gehrke, executive director of Illinois Right to Life, called it "particularly tragic¹⁶."

Helping¹⁷ to treat the surge

Inside the Waukegan clinic, there are typical exam tables, ultrasound machines and hardwood floors throughout. There are also signs of what the space used to be – a big bank on a busy retail¹⁸ strip – such as the shiny vault¹⁹ in the staff break room.

Some of the Wisconsin providers commute to Waukegan a few times a week; others a few days a month.

For Hartwig, associate director of clinical services at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, she's able to do more for patients in Illinois than she could back home. Even as a nurse with an advanced degree, she wasn't allowed to provide medication abortion in Wisconsin. But she can in Illinois, according to the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

"This was really just what I was always supposed to do," Hartwig said. "There's nothing that's going to keep me from helping our patients."

Dr. Kathy King, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin's medical director, said while her staff is dedicated²⁰ to providing these services, it comes at a cost.

"It is a burden on our clinicians and nurses and medical assistants who have young children at home," King said. "It sounds great. Sure, we'll all just travel down to Waukegan five days a week. But the logistics of that and the sacrifice of doing that on just people's day-to-day lives takes a toll²¹."

Still, this sacrifice has helped. With staff from Wisconsin, the Waukegan clinic now has doubled the number of abortion appointments available, and they're still ramping²² up. This also frees up other staff to treat patients who come for other needs, like birth control and cancer screenings.

There has been a burst of patients from Wisconsin for abortion appointments at all Planned Parenthood of Illinois clinics — a tenfold increase in the month after Roe was overturned, from about 35 patients a month to 350, King said. That doesn't include Wisconsin residents who might have sought abortions with other providers.

A potential model

The Waukegan clinic has ignited interest from abortion providers in other nearby states. Planned Parenthood of Illinois is fielding calls from those in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, for example, Schultz said.

What Illinois needs is more staff to treat more patients. But where will those additional employees come from? The commute from Wisconsin to Waukegan is relatively²³ short compared with providers in Ohio who'd have to cross Indiana to get here.

Across the nation, there are other conversations happening among providers. The National Abortion Federation²⁴, which has about 500 facility members including independent abortion clinics and hospitals, is pairing up people who are looking for jobs at clinics with those that need workers, said Melissa Fowler, chief program officer at the federation.

Still, she acknowledged moving isn't a realistic option for everyone.

"People have lives," Fowler said. "They have families. They're deeply rooted in their communities. ... And so a situation like you're seeing in Illinois and Wisconsin is great because people are able to stay connected to their community, not have to move their family and still be able to provide care."

In southern Illinois, many people who work in a clinic in Fairview Heights live across the border in St. Louis. It's a roughly 30-minute commute for Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

During her career, she's traveled to Kansas and Oklahoma to provide abortions. Now she's seeing whose expertise²⁵ she can bring to Fairview Heights, such as doctors and clinic managers in Arkansas who in a post-Roe world now work in a state that has banned nearly all abortions. There's been a big uptick in patients seeking abortions in Fairview Heights recently coming from Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.

"Who's going to provide those services?" McNicholas asked.

Before the June decision, patients in Fairview Heights typically waited three days for an appointment to get an abortion. Now they wait around three weeks — at a clinic that provides abortions six days a week, eight hours a day.

Within the year, McNicholas said the clinic might open its doors seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

She worries even that might not be enough to give quick access to patients.

This story was produced as part of NPR's partnership with Kaiser Health News and WBEZ Chicago.

1 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 spouse   

n.配偶(指夫或妻)

参考例句：

• Her spouse will come to see her on Sunday.她的丈夫星期天要来看她。
• What is the best way to keep your spouse happy in the marriage?在婚姻中保持配偶幸福的最好方法是什么？

4 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

5 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

6 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

9 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

10 oasis   

n.（沙漠中的）绿洲，宜人的地方

参考例句：

• They stopped for the night at an oasis.他们在沙漠中的绿洲停下来过夜。
• The town was an oasis of prosperity in a desert of poverty.该镇是贫穷荒漠中的一块繁荣的“绿洲”。

11 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

12 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

13 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

14 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

15 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

16 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

19 vault   

n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室

参考例句：

• The vault of this cathedral is very high.这座天主教堂的拱顶非常高。
• The old patrician was buried in the family vault.这位老贵族埋在家族的墓地里。

20 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

21 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

22 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

23 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

24 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

25 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。