Arizona women cross state lines to receive abortion services

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Some clinics in neighboring states are seeing a surge in demand for abortion services following a judge’s recent ruling allowing Arizona to enforce a near-total abortion ban.

“We’ve definitely seen an increasing trend of women from Arizona coming to Nevada to seek an abortion,” Dr. Paul Isaacson, an Arizona OB-GYN, said. The doctor is also a co-owner of a clinic in Nevada, a state where abortion is legal. “We’ve gone from rarely seeing an Arizona patient to you know, 2 or 3 on one day and maybe 9 or 10 on another day,” he said.

Since the Pima County judge’s ruling came down on September 23rd, Dr. Isaacson says at least 40-50 Arizona women have visited his Nevada clinic for abortion services. “I think that most of them are expressing relief, that they found somewhere to go because they were just really very frightened. You know that they just wouldn’t have an option available,” the doctor said.

His practice, Birth Control Care Center, is about a 4.5 hour drive from the Phoenix area. “Some things that I’ve seen in the press that have said Arizona women are seeking abortions in California and New Mexico, but in fact, Nevada is really the closest option for most women in central and northern Arizona,” he said.

While some Arizonans are strongly against the state’s near-total abortion ban, others have been fighting for years to make this happen. “In Arizona, we have almost 50 pregnancy centers that stand ready to help women. No woman needs to go through pregnancy alone, the pregnancy centers are there to help a woman meet to meet all of a woman’s need during a pregnancy so I look forward to a state where the sanctity of human life is valued and women are taken care of,” Cathi Herrod with the Center for Arizona Policy, said.

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