Updated April 13, 11:30 a.m. PST.
This article was originally published by Rewire.News. It has been reposted with permission.
Governors and other state officials across the United States are deciding whether abortion care is an “essential” health-care service, as many states halt nonessential surgeries to create capacity for the expected crush of COVID-19 patients.
Declaring a medical procedure as “nonessential” would mean postponement for those seeking care. In a March 18 joint statement, medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, urged state officials not to group abortion services with nonessential health care.
The statement reads:
To the extent that hospital systems…