I work at a Federally Qualified Health Center, and none of our funds or locations are ever used for abortion services. Some of the providers in our clinic interpret this to mean that they (the providers) should not provide full options counseling for patients.

I recently had a patient referred to me at 21 weeks of pregnancy. She had separated from the father of the baby early in pregnancy because of domestic violence and was living in a shelter with her four children. In her initial prenatal care visit, she had asked about options for this pregnancy and the only options mentioned were parenting or adoption. Abortion had not even been mentioned as an option. Now, at over 20 weeks, the patient had no options for termination in our state and, due to finances, is unable to travel to another state for a termination of pregnancy.