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The article talks about the difference between legality and access but doesn't mention two key differences between the US and European countries. The first is f
by AdamH12113 4y ago
The article talks about the difference between legality and access but doesn't mention two key differences between the US and European countries. The first is funding. Healthcare in America is expensive to begin with, and there are no federal subsidies for abortions allowed (e.g. via Medicaid) due to the Hyde Amendment. The second is that even before the Dobbs decision Republican-controlled states in the US went to great lengths to harass clinics and abortion-seekers by imposing extreme and medically-unnecessary requirements for things like the size of the clinic building, mandatory waiting periods, and forced transvaginal ultrasounds. On top of that, clinics that provide abortion are usually surrounded by a crowd of screaming anti-abortion activists who yell at patients and providers. To my understanding, that sort of stuff doesn't generally happen in most European countries. I suspect their sex ed classes and contraceptive access are much better than ours, too.
There's also a long history of stochastic terrorism toward doctors who perform abortions, but I don't know how European countries compare on that front.