LA County Offers Safe Haven for Those Seeking Reproductive Health Services
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, LA County continues to ensure that access to information and services related to reproductive health and abortions are available to all, regardless of immigration status or residency.
At LA County Chief Executive Office and Ethnic Media Services briefing, Sept. 14, speakers –Chanel Smith, Executive Director, LA County Women and Girls Initiative; Dr Susie Baldwin, Medical Director, Office of Women’s Health, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health; Sylvia Castillo, Director, Government and Community Affairs at Essential Access Health; Sasha Nochimow, Access Reproductive Justice; and Rigoberto Reyes, Executive Director, Office of Immigrant Affairs – discussed LA County’s efforts to remain a safe haven where people can access services, and how community-based nonprofits are working with LA County to safeguard reproductive rights.
The briefing began with opening remarks on video from Holly Mitchell, Chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors, and Supervisor representing District 2.
“I’ve spent much of my professional career, working with people who have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Women, whose choices have been taken away, often through means of violence. With the overturning of Roe v Wade, every woman in America now fears for our right to make decisions about our own body. We are here today to inform all women that in Los Angeles County if you are seeking access to reproductive care, including abortion services, we are here for you,” said Mitchell.
Sharing more details about the Abortion Safe Haven project that LA County is undertaking, Dr Susie Baldwin said, “The training needs of what do health care providers, social service providers public, health professionals, community health workers, and others, including the hotel sector, the transportation sector, need to know to improve access to reproductive health care.
“With abortion, there is a lot of stigma and fear, even among professionals, when people don’t like to talk about this. The truth is that abortion is very safe and very common, and those of us who work directly with clients or patients, have a professional responsibility and ethical responsibility to know the facts, and to be able to share accurate information with the patients and clients that we serve, including how to refer them to the services they need.
“How do we plan now to expand our workforce, to be able to meet the reproductive health cares of everyone in our County, and those who are going to come here from other states, where they can no longer get some pregnancy-related services?
“Sometimes, in some of these states, treatment for a miscarriage is now banned or illegal, so we need to build a pipeline of people in L.A County who want to do this work – everybody from nursing assistants, to lab technicians, to nurses, and doctors, to support the care of all the people here, and those who may come in the future.
“To expand Health Equity, we want everyone in our County, and those who are visiting us for health care, to be able to access the services they need in a timely way, regardless of where they were born, or how long they’ve been in this country;
“We know that for many people in the County, it can be difficult to get the health care they need because they face many barriers – this is especially true for our immigrant residents, and neighbors in the context of health disparities.
“The board asked us to consider the needs of certain populations of women who are particularly vulnerable. Women who are unhoused, those who have serious mental health issues, or are dealing with substance abuse issues, substance use disorder, as well as those who are incarcerated under the Department of Public Health.
“We decided to expand the vulnerable populations to include other groups including immigrants, women of color, youth, as well as lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people. There are people who don’t identify as women, who sometimes need abortion services, and that can be very challenging for them.
“We’re also looking at people who are leaving jails to re-enter our communities because they also face large barriers to health care and services, so as part of this work, we had a series of meetings with many different partners, over 35 different agencies and divisions of the county were represented, and we learned important things about meeting the needs of diverse communities, including, sharing information, including give people better access to health insurance, transportation for health care, child care, and other services, that enable them to get to the health care they need.
“Everyone in L.A County should understand our laws and know that even though Roe v Wade was overturned at the Federal level, here in California, and here in L.A County, abortion is still legal, and available, and it’s also still covered by Medi-Cal.
“Abortion is also very safe, despite the stigma around it. We’ve created a website to share important information.
“We now have an online resource guide that tells people about services they may need for family planning such as, contraception and abortion services. The resource guide is available in English, Spanish and 10 or 11 other languages, that are going to be posted soon,” said Dr Baldwin.
Chanel Smith explained the Women and Girls Initiative, a form of help to coordinate all the different initiatives or the different programs that are supporting women and girls in the county.
“There are there are no residency requirements. We are aiming to make these services readily accessible to people whether they’re in our County, coming from out of state, other places in California, or even if they’ve just arrived in the United States. There will be no barriers based on where you’re from,” said Smith.
Sylvia Castillo from Essential Access Health and Sasha Nochimow from Access Reproductive Justice joined in the conversation next.
“We champion and promote quality sexual and reproductive health care for all, and we achieve our mission through a wide range of programs and services including clinic support initiatives, provider trainings, advanced clinical research, and advocacy and consumer awareness.
“Making our own intimate decisions about our health, our families, and our futures, is a fundamental human right, that’s why California and Los Angeles County leaders, providers, and advocates are committed to protecting and expanding access to comprehensive reproductive health services even as other states need to restrict and add barriers to getting essential health services.
“We are committed to ensure people can get the care they need when they need it, regardless of their income status, their immigration status, regardless of where they live, or whether they have health coverage. The reality today is that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade earlier this summer, 21 million people across the country have lost access to abortion care, but even before the fall of Roe, increasing State restrictions over the past 10 years drove people to cross state lines to get abortions.
“In one recent study published by the Goot Walker Institute, it was found that in 2020’s, two years ago, nine percent of abortions in the United States were obtained by people traveling out of their state of residence. This was already happening, and it is communities of color, low-income communities, and immigrant communities that bear the burden of abortion restrictions due to long-standing racial and structural inequities, and they experience disparate sexual and reproductive health outcomes, many of which doctors have already mentioned.
A lot of misinformation and disinformation is being purposely directed by anti-reproductive freedom factions toward communities of color and immigrant communities specifically, so we want to make it clear that here in California, abortion care remains legal, and our state and county leaders are taking historic and comprehensive action to reduce barriers and increase equitable access to abortion services and other reproductive health Services for all.
“The California State Legislature passed a comprehensive and robust package of 13 legislative bills put forth by the California Feature of Abortion Council to ensure that California becomes a true reproductive freedom state.
“Together, these 13 bills aim to reduce cost barriers to abortion care, and provide practical support for Californians, and others forced to travel to our state, to access care. These bills will also develop and train a reproductive health care workforce that is reflective of communities receiving the care so that they can provide culturally competent care across the state.
The bills will also enact legal protections for abortion providers or patients, and for people who help patients access this care. The State Legislature also recently passed SB 523 Senate Bill 523 to modernize and expand access to birth control in our state,” said Castillo.
“Our abortion fund and healthline work exists to help eliminate barriers that folks are facing to accessing reproductive and sexual health care of any kind, but overwhelmingly abortion care. We will continue to prioritize three groups of people – Californians staying in California for care; anyone traveling into the state of California for care; and any Californian in leaving California for care; we do not have income requirements, documentation requirements, residency requirements, age requirements. We’re here to support Californians, and those traveling into California for abortion care.
“The majority of Californian callers last year, in 2021, about 16 of California callers, reported living in L.A. County at the time of their call. This calendar year to date, about 21 of Californian callers reported being from L.A. County, so L.A. County is a destination for abortion care.
Twenty-two of California’s 58 counties, or one-third of California counties do not have an abortion clinic, but Los Angeles County has 56 open abortion clinics. It’s a destination for individuals who don’t have a clinic in their county, particularly those individuals who often live in rural areas and more rural counties.
“L.A. County also houses several hospital-based clinics, and for individuals who may have high risk pregnancies, and need specialized care, they can find that at hospital-based clinics in the county.
“L.A. County’s high concentration of clinics; number of airports; and the relative proximity to both Arizona and Texas; make it a destination for folks traveling from restricted states. Since the Dobbs decision on June 24, and up until Sept. 9, Access had supported 66 patients who traveled from out of state, into California for care. Of those 66, 20 were seen in L.A. County, that’s about one-third of patients.
Procedural Funding: For individuals who may have insurance but they don’t want to use their insurance for privacy reasons, they need to pay out of pocket for care; for folks who are coming out of state into California, they may be insured but their insurance no longer follows them into California, they also have to pay out of pocket for care; Procedural funding is the majority of what Access spends our money on, literally paying for their procedures.
“Transportation is the second biggest thing that our callers need, and finally, lodging. and so
“Alicia is an Arizona resident who drove seven hours to Los Angeles for a two-day appointment. Because her out of state insurance was not accepted at the clinic, Alicia was faced with a $2,200 bill at the time of her appointment. Unable to cover all of it, she reached out to Access and we were able to contribute over $400 to help offset that total.
“Alicia could not return home between her two-day appointments, and Access covered three nights in a hotel which came to over $700. Alicia also paid her own gas bill, but we’re looking at over $2,000 procedure, over $700 Hotel, and gas on top of that.
“Margot is a 17-year-old who lives in Northern California, who drove eight hours from Northern California to be seen in L.A. County, for a three-day procedure. The cost of that procedure itself was covered, but given that Marco lives an eight-hour drive away, she needed four nights in a hotel nearby to the clinic, which Access was able to cover.
“We can see the practical support needs, as we call them, in this in this work add up quickly, and given that so many people are traveling to LA County, it’s critical that we are able to help offset these costs,” said Nochimow.
“The County Office of Immigrant Affairs is here to answer any concerns anyone may have regarding potential impact on their immigration status if they receive some of these services. “We know there is a lot of fear in the community about repercussions, and we have the information, we have the answers.
“Some cultures are a lot more reluctant to even discuss this issue and I think the impact on those women who will be facing some of these challenges, we need to have information that addresses that as well,” said Rigoberto Reyes of the Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Interested readers can contact Access Reproductive Justice at their helpline number: 1-800-376-4636.
