Posted on Oct 29, 2022
Nine days in a Michigan abortion clinic, as election looms
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The night before her abortion, Melissa got off work and dropped her kids off with the grandparents. She then drove nearly four hours from her Ohio home, across the state border into Michigan, arriving at her hotel at 3 a.m.
By 8 a.m., she was at the front desk at Northland Family Planning in metro Detroit, eyes puffy from exhaustion, hair pulled off her face into a loose bun, her hands disappearing inside the sleeves of her black sweatshirt. For the past three months, Melissa had been desperately trying to get this appointment.
“I was so relieved, after the struggle,” Melissa said, sinking into a chair inside one of the clinic’s waiting areas. She put her chin down on her chest, pink splotches appearing on her cheeks. She didn’t expect to cry. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”
On Nov. 8, Michigan voters will decide whether to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The vote comes as women from as far away as Florida and Texas have been coming to the state in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, seeking the legal abortions they can no longer get where they live.
Clinics that perform abortions are almost always closed to press. But Michigan Radio got a rare degree of access to Northland Family Planning, a group of clinics in suburban Detroit. For nine days in August and September, we shadowed a doctor and clinic staff through every step of the process. More than two dozen patients shared their stories with us, and what they believe is at stake in this election.
By 8 a.m., she was at the front desk at Northland Family Planning in metro Detroit, eyes puffy from exhaustion, hair pulled off her face into a loose bun, her hands disappearing inside the sleeves of her black sweatshirt. For the past three months, Melissa had been desperately trying to get this appointment.
“I was so relieved, after the struggle,” Melissa said, sinking into a chair inside one of the clinic’s waiting areas. She put her chin down on her chest, pink splotches appearing on her cheeks. She didn’t expect to cry. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”
On Nov. 8, Michigan voters will decide whether to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The vote comes as women from as far away as Florida and Texas have been coming to the state in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, seeking the legal abortions they can no longer get where they live.
Clinics that perform abortions are almost always closed to press. But Michigan Radio got a rare degree of access to Northland Family Planning, a group of clinics in suburban Detroit. For nine days in August and September, we shadowed a doctor and clinic staff through every step of the process. More than two dozen patients shared their stories with us, and what they believe is at stake in this election.
Nine days in a Michigan abortion clinic, as election looms
Posted from michiganradio.org
Abortion
Medical
Health
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Abortion rights on the line in Michigan
At Northland, what you hear a lot from patients is: I’m doing this because I have this picture for my life, and the things I want. One woman, who asked that we not use her name, said she knows she wants to be a mom eventually. But first, she wants to finish school and travel.
Sitting in the waiting area, this patient, who asked to be unnamed, talked about how hard it was to come here. How she hid it from her mom at first, before her aunties threatened to tell her mom if she didn’t. How her mom was surprisingly supportive, getting up early with her in the morning, making sure she’d had a good breakfast before her appointment. She shifted side to side in her chair, in spotless sweats, a low ponytail tucked beneath a crisp baseball hat.
Sure, she said, she knows a lot of women get abortions. But that doesn’t make this feel any easier.
“We almost feel like we feel filthy, we feel dirty,” she said, shaking her head. “We feel like we have to sneak in, do this. Some of us put our lives at risk doing it.”
She said she did not want to be trapped with the guy who got her pregnant. She didn’t want to be a mother to a child who would grow up without a dad.
“They, the guys, they're never held responsible for things like this, ever. It's always the woman. We always got to step up and take care of it. Whether we keep it or not, it's always put in our lap.”
This patient said, she asked the guy who got her pregnant if he could pay for the abortion.
He said the most he could do was split it with her.
Nearly every patient we talked to at Northland knew about Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights in Michigan.
Some of them were hopeful it would pass. Others were scared it wouldn't. Lots of them were in disbelief that abortion care is something they have to fight for.
And some, like the patient in the baseball cap, were angry.
“Stop thinking it can't touch you,” she said. It could touch you in so many ways. It could be your mother. It could be your sister. It could be your niece. It could be your daughter. Your future, your future daughter. Your future wife. Stop thinking it's not going to touch you, man or woman.”
..."Abortion rights on the line in Michigan
At Northland, what you hear a lot from patients is: I’m doing this because I have this picture for my life, and the things I want. One woman, who asked that we not use her name, said she knows she wants to be a mom eventually. But first, she wants to finish school and travel.
Sitting in the waiting area, this patient, who asked to be unnamed, talked about how hard it was to come here. How she hid it from her mom at first, before her aunties threatened to tell her mom if she didn’t. How her mom was surprisingly supportive, getting up early with her in the morning, making sure she’d had a good breakfast before her appointment. She shifted side to side in her chair, in spotless sweats, a low ponytail tucked beneath a crisp baseball hat.
Sure, she said, she knows a lot of women get abortions. But that doesn’t make this feel any easier.
“We almost feel like we feel filthy, we feel dirty,” she said, shaking her head. “We feel like we have to sneak in, do this. Some of us put our lives at risk doing it.”
She said she did not want to be trapped with the guy who got her pregnant. She didn’t want to be a mother to a child who would grow up without a dad.
“They, the guys, they're never held responsible for things like this, ever. It's always the woman. We always got to step up and take care of it. Whether we keep it or not, it's always put in our lap.”
This patient said, she asked the guy who got her pregnant if he could pay for the abortion.
He said the most he could do was split it with her.
Nearly every patient we talked to at Northland knew about Proposal 3, the constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights in Michigan.
Some of them were hopeful it would pass. Others were scared it wouldn't. Lots of them were in disbelief that abortion care is something they have to fight for.
And some, like the patient in the baseball cap, were angry.
“Stop thinking it can't touch you,” she said. It could touch you in so many ways. It could be your mother. It could be your sister. It could be your niece. It could be your daughter. Your future, your future daughter. Your future wife. Stop thinking it's not going to touch you, man or woman.”
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