A Bay Area OB-GYN is organizing an effort to bring abortion services and reproductive healthcare to several southern states bordering the Gulf of Mexico via a ship sailing on federal waters. Dr. Meg Autry, who also works as a professor at UCSF, had already been working to bring this effort to life. But when Roe v. Wade was overturned, Autry said their plans were accelerated.
As first reported by KCBS, this plan called PRROWESS aims to bring reproductive healthcare to states where abortions are banned, limited, or hard to access.
In an interview with NBC Bay Area, Autry pointed out that people living in southern parts of states like Texas and Louisiana with restrictive abortion rules are actually closer to the coast than to nearby states with more abortion access. Plus, she noted, getting on a boat is cheaper and quicker than getting on a plane to another state.
Autry has performed abortions for decades and refers to herself as “a lifelong educator, a lifelong career abortion advocate.”
“It is my life’s work,” she said.
“Part of the reason we’re working on this project so hard is because wealthy people in our country are always going to have access [to abortions], so once again it’s a time now where poor, people of color, marginalized individuals, are gonna suffer –and by suffering I mean like lives lost,” Autry said.
She explained that this ship will operate on federal waters where the distance from the shore varies and the way that people will get to the ship will depend on where they are located. She and a team of licensed medical professionals will travel through the gulf and offer abortions up to fourteen weeks. The PRROWESS team would also offer other services you’d see at a reproductive health clinic like treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
“The project is being funded with philanthropy and the patients care is on a needs basis, so most individuals will pay little to nothing for services,” Autry said.
Stacy Cross, the President of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte which offers services in California and Nevada, said it’s not surprising that health care providers are teaming up to offer services on the water.
Cross explained that the abortion service provider community has been preparing for the possibility of a post-Roe world for some time now and that, “over the years we’ve talked about things like boats on federal waters out past the 5-mile line.”
“It’s just it’s a testament to the time we’re in, because its really horrific that we’re having to think of these things in the United States of America, how to keep people safe,” Cross said.
Several California Planned Parenthood chapters tell NBC Bay Area that demand from out-of-state patients at California clinics has actually been up for months already due to policies in other states.
“I think people are going to be as creative as possible, the people who have the funds are getting on planes and flying, we’re seeing other people drive here,” Cross said.
As for Autry, in order for her to carry out her vision, she does need to secure a ship to use first. Once that happens, she says they’ll put the captain, crew, and medical team aboard and set sail.
Autry and her team maintain this is legal in federal waters. Still, they expect legal challenges every step of the way. The PRROWESS team has tapped multiple lawyers to help them as they continue with this voyage.
Source: NBC Bay Area