Source: Wisconsin State Journal
By: Lisa Subeck
Thank you for your recent profile of Anne Nicol Gaylor. Reporter Doug Erickson successfully captured her enduring commitment to ensuring all women have access to abortion services. The work of Gaylor and the Women’s Medical Fund makes a real difference in the lives of women, some in the most desperate circumstances, every day.
Though the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade guarantees women the right to choose safe and legal abortion, this is a right that is too often out of reach for those without economic resources.
While 87 percent of insurance plans cover abortion services, our state and federal laws prohibit such coverage for low-income women on Medicaid. Add the lack of insurance coverage with travel expenses — abortion care is only available in three cities in Wisconsin and requires an overnight stay due to a law mandating a 24-hour waiting period — and abortion is out of reach for many Wisconsin women.
Gaylor and the Women’s Medical Fund aim to change that. Through their commitment to funding abortion care for low-income women, Gaylor and the fund ensure abortion is not just safe and legal, but also accessible for women who would otherwise not be able to exercise their legal right to choose.
— Lisa Subeck, executive director, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin
