We might be in the middle of a pandemic, with many facets of pre-COVID life put on pause, but that doesn’t mean unwanted pregnancies aren’t happening.
In fact, living through this time may make accessing contraception more challenging than ever. Many doctors’ offices are closed, millions lost their jobs and health insurance, and everyone’s economic resources are stretched thin.
Oh, bonus, the Supreme Court ruled that employers can opt out of covering your birth control for “moral” reasons. So even if you still have a job, it’s possible you’re paying hundreds of dollars to not have a baby. Obviously, when you can’t get your prescription filled, shit is bound to go wrong.
Today, Power to Decide launched a kick-ass, incredibly-helpful Abortion Finder tool, allowing users to find legitimate abortion providers nearest to them.
The tool (which can also be found on Abortionfinder.org, easy to remember!) is basically a search engine that pulls data from 750 clinics and “provides the most comprehensive directory of trusted and verified abortion service providers in the United States,” per Power to Decide’s press release.
While you could just Google abortion centers near you, the search results will always end up including anti-abortion groups disguising themselves as a healthcare clinic. Those groups’ goal is to dissuade women from having an abortion, not to provide care. The Power to Decide tool filters out those results so that you only see trusted clinics that do provide abortion services.
To use the tool, you input your address, age, and date of last period. If you don’t know that date, there’s an option for that too. The results page is filtered by state, with a handy header that explains state “waiting periods,” state abortion laws, and more info about benchmarks you have to meet to get an abortion in that location.
Each result for abortion clinics shows contact information, as well as the types of abortion available, like the abortion pill, an in-office procedure, or both. From there, you’re free to contact the clinic and set up an in-person or telehealth appointment so you can decide what’s best for you body.
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