Poverty is a hurdle for women seeking abortions in rural America (Barf)

Guardian ^ | AUG 14, 2019 | Khushbu Shah

[Morgana]

For the third time in a week, LT stood at the reception in the abortion clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana, more than 90 minutes away from her home. She was – again – looking for the right paperwork to show her boss why she had taken time off work from her busy job at a chain restaurant in north-eastern Louisiana.

LT had first showed him a $550 receipt from the clinic. No, he told the 22-year-old single mother, he wanted a doctor’s note from the clinic. So – using the last $25 she had in her bank account – she drove back because, without it, her manager refused to put her back on the schedule.

And LT could not afford to miss any shifts.

Many women did not want to be identified because only a handful of people knew of their situation. They also worried about stigma in their small, southern communities.

But LT’s is a common story and not close to one of the worst. In this poor, rural corner of the American south, the process of getting an abortion is logistically difficult, emotionally fraught and often a battle against poverty.

It is also getting harder. A wave of anti-abortion bills have spread across the US, especially parts of the conservative south. The aim is to make abortion more difficult, with more paperwork, bureaucracy and early deadlines and, perhaps, one day outlaw it. That would force already poor women to travel even longer distances to get abortions and spend even more money – or have them take risks for illegal procedures.

Kathaleen Pittman, director of the Hope Medical Group for Women, said more than 80% of the women who come in to her Shreveport clinic self-identify as living below the poverty line.

[sparklite2]

religious rigidity and “thou shall not” dicta

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I love it. Please subscribe me to your newsletter!

[Scarpetta]

No newsletter (although I did coordinate a rally in Philly after the hanging chad election debacle). I am thinking about signing off for good as a longtime Freeper. I remember the good old days of righteous indignation and thoughtful dialogue.

[lastchance]

You will be missed.

[lastchance]

I sure hope you don’t sign off for good. I thought your one comment was uncalled for. Rutting is a term used to refer to animals not human beings.

But being a Floridian I especially like that you organized a rally after the hanging chad debacle. The day the Fl Supreme Court got its ass handed to it will always live in my memory as a day of great joy.

[Scarpetta]

I truly appreciate the tone and content of your post to me. I don’t think the word “rutting” is in anyway aberrant. It happens to describe a pervasive subculture of many urban areas where sex is had indiscriminately, often resulting in unplanned offspring whose care is foisted upon the American taxpayer.

If you don’t know this, then you are sheltered and bully for you, for I wish I didn’t have to live with the resulting crime and drain on my tax dollars to support the fruits of this cultural “enrichment.”

If I seem bitter then you’re right. I’ve had to move homes because of urban enrichment (a white girl was gang raped in a parking lot on my block). It’s so easy to be chill when you’re far flung from the problems.

[lastchance]

I understand. I am not denying the reality of what you describe. Indiscriminate sex without any thought of the consequences. I don’t mean to come off “as holier than thou” because believe me I struggle to remember the humanity of such persons. I mean really struggle some days.

Honestly you would be surprised at how galling I find the behavior of a certain urban population. And I don’t just mean sex. The total expectation that they are owed something. And the lack of connecting the dots to why their lives might be in the crapper.

I am not sheltered but I do live a distance from the high crime area of our county. I can’t blame you one bit for any bitterness (which I did not catch at all). The horror of being so close to such a crime must not be easy to shake.

One reason I will never vote Democrat is because of their support of forcing cultural enrichment on us. That cultural enrichment is a strong argument for the 2nd Amendment.

Have a good night.