My patient, who I’ll call Alisha, was referred to me by one of our doctors who works with high-risk patients. She had a heart condition that had progressively gotten worse with the birth of her previous two children. She had almost died with her second pregnancy.

She was now pregnant a third time and was faced with the risk of dying with this pregnancy, leaving behind her two young children. The one clinic in the southern part of Louisiana couldn’t perform her procedure due to her medical condition. We spent weeks trying to find a place able to care for her, and finally found a clinic in Texas with the facilities able to do her abortion safely and at a cost she could afford.

She ended up spending her last dollar on a seven-hour bus ride to a neighboring state to have her procedure.