Recent state restrictions on abortion clinics could have an unintended consequence: reducing access to healthcare for poor and uninsured women, according to a report from Pew Charitable Trust's Stateline.
New standards for abortion clinics, including those that require
clinic physicians to have admitting privileges at a hospital, will cause some clinics to close. These clinics provide services other than abortions, however, and these closings will severely restrict women's access to healthcare in some areas.
Services typically offered at such family planning clinics include STI testing, mammograms, pap smears, cancer screenings, family planning counseling and birth control, often at lower fees for uninsured women, according to the report.
Numerous reports have detailed the importance of these clinics for the uninsured. A 2012 study from the Guttermacher institute found that 40 percent of women surveyed at family planning clinics had received exclusive care at those clinics for the past year.
More Articles on Key Specialties:
Mammography Recall Rates Differ Between Academic and Community Medical Centers, Study Finds
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Uses iPads to Reduce Patient Anxiety During Imaging Scans
Unity Hospital Opens Cardiology Floor