Opinion: Next year, your closest abortion clinic could be abroad

Last year, more than 171,000 Americans were forced to leave their homes and travel across state lines for an abortion. That’s nearly a fifth of all Americans who needed abortion care in 2023 — and more than twice as many people who had to do the same in 2019.

It’s yet another jarring statistic that shows how Republicans’ extremist beliefs and bans are taking our society backward. Thanks to the cruelty and harm they’ve unleashed across the nation, women are forced to pack up their cars and drive for hundreds of miles in their most vulnerable states, just to get routine health care they should be able to get at home.

But those numbers overlook an even more horrifying reality: the tens of thousands of women who couldn’t afford to do so. After Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade, almost a quarter of women living in states with extreme abortion bans who may have gotten an abortion otherwise, did not. That’s countless women who have been forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, simply because they couldn’t afford to travel out of state for an abortion, to pay for lodging, to take time off from work, or to hire child care for the rest of their family.

If our current reality isn’t terrifying enough, things could get significantly worse next year. Americans just like you and me could be forced to travel across not state lines, but international boundaries, in order to get an abortion. And even more women may be forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.

Because if Republicans take control of the White House this November, they will stop at nothing to pass a national abortion ban.

You don’t have to take my word for it; Republicans have already shown us their vision for the future. Time and time again, Donald Trump proudly boasts about overturning Roe. He has undeniable ties to Project 2025, an extremist playbook that would enact a nationwide ban on abortion without exceptions, jail health care providers, and force states to report women’s miscarriages and abortions to his administration — all without going through Congress. And amid his incoherent debate performance earlier this month, Trump made one thing glaringly clear: He will not hesitate to sign a national abortion ban into law if given the opportunity.

What’s more, with his choice of running mate, Trump has solidified one of the most anti-choice presidential tickets possible. An extremist in his own right, JD Vance has said himself that he wants abortion to be illegal nationwide. He opposes exceptions for rape and incest in abortion bans. He wants the federal government to intervene against those same women Republicans are forcing to travel across states for care — in order to block them from doing so.

Republicans don’t see our nation’s state of emergency for what it is; they see it as the perfect opportunity to push the needle further. While they plot to ban abortion care from coast to coast, they’re also laying the groundwork to strip away our right to IVF. And their Project 2025 provides a step-by-step plan for restricting access to birth control and other forms of contraception.

If Donald Trump and JD Vance are in the White House in 2025, it won’t matter whether you live in a blue state or a red state. It won’t matter whether your state has had strong abortion protections in the past. While they try to lie and mislead voters about their real agendas, Republicans can’t outrun the truth: every American’s rights are at stake. 

This November is about freedom — plain and simple. The freedom to make our own decisions about our bodies, our lives, and our futures. Now more than ever, we need leaders who trust us to make the best decisions for ourselves and our families, and who will help us take back that freedom from Republican clutches.

A future with our rights intact starts with electing Kamala Harris, a fierce advocate for abortion access since day one of her career, as the next president of the United States. But it doesn’t end there.

In order to restore and pass further protections for reproductive health care, we need to secure Democratic pro-choice majorities at all levels of the ballot that enable us to do so. That includes electing Rachel Hunt as Lt. Governor and pro-choice legislators like Woodson Bradley (NC-SD42), Beth Helfrich (NC-HD98), and Nicole Sidman (NC-HD105) at the state-level. With so much on the line, these women are best equipped to lead the fight against North Carolina’s 12-week abortion ban and defend our right to IVF, birth control, and other reproductive freedoms.

With only 18 days until Election Day, the time is now to reject Republican extremism and take back our power like our lives depend on it — because they do.