Abortion advocates in the west worry that telehealth services could come under threat with a second Trump administration.
According to released earlier this month, about 1 in 5 abortions [20 percent] are now done through telehealth in the U.S. That鈥檚 up from just 4 percent before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Technological advancements during the pandemic also laid the groundwork for that shift. Patients virtually meet with providers, who then mail them a series of pills that terminate the pregnancy.
鈥淲e have doubled down in terms of expanding our healthcare through telehealth,鈥� 鈥� Sarah Taylor-Nanista said while on a fundraising trip in Jackson Hole.
These Planned Parenthood clinics are based in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico but serve patients across the region. For example, there鈥檚 been a 28 percent increase in telehealth patients from Wyoming, where abortion is but access is limited by geography.
Taylor-Nanista said she鈥檚 worried about more restrictions.
鈥淭he Trump administration and anti-choicers are really looking at how can they limit the expansion of healthcare through telehealth and that would have extraordinarily negative impacts on our patients,鈥� she said.
Former President Donald Trump has been on his abortion views depending on what鈥檚 politically favorable but, earlier this month, to banning the pills used to terminate pregnancies.
His team has since tried to , but there鈥檚 still a lot of uncertainties of what he鈥檇 support if reelected.
If abortion pills are ultimately banned, Taylor-Nanista said the Planned Parenthood offices in the region would only be able to provide in-person procedures.
鈥淭hat has limitations for folks who aren鈥檛 in a state or within a good traveling distance of a brick-and-mortar health center where they can get procedural abortion,鈥� she said.
Over the last few years, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains has seen the number of for abortion go up by 142 percent.
Many of those people are Texans, since the organization only offers telehealth services to patients in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Southern Nevada.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.