Ali Block
speaker
886 appearances
8 recordings
1 series
first heard Sep 2023
last heard Oct 2023
Ali Block’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
This is Zach again.
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By midday, patients from all around the country are arriving.
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Insurance and Medicaid are banned from covering the cost of abortion care in Kansas, except in very limited circumstances.
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So, like so many clinics across the country, Trustwomen relies on independent abortion funds to cover costs for patients who aren't able to pay themselves.
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This requires constant behind-the-scenes fundraising, not just to make sure that patients can get affordable abortions, but also to ensure that everyone at TrustWomen gets paid a fair wage.
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After patients check in, they make their way to the first of three waiting rooms.
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Each one is intended for patients at a different step in the day, yet another example of the systems designed to accommodate as many patients as possible.
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Each room is decorated with encouraging posters, free snacks, and aromatherapy sticks.
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Third waiting room?
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The Trustwomen staff have done their best to create a refuge from the storm beyond their walls, but the push and pull of state regulations still finds its way in.
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Abortion is banned in Kansas after 22 weeks.
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Patients have to wait 24 hours after an initial counseling session before undergoing a procedure, and then again for 30 minutes after their ultrasound.
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On top of this, Trust Women is seeing more complicated cases, like second trimester abortions for people who weren't able to get care in their own states, and so are accessing care weeks, if not months, past when they normally would have.
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In clinics where I've worked in less restricted states, when a pregnant person with a complex medical history shows up, there's a pretty low threshold to refer them out to a higher level of care.
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Maybe there's someone in their second trimester with a history of C-sections, or they have anemia with a low blood level, or even just someone with diabetes on insulin.
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All of these conditions can pose a slightly higher risk in the procedure, so when there's a major medical center with resources nearby, it's easier just to refer them out.
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In Kansas, there's nowhere else to go.
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So the trustwomen staff need to make a judgment call.
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Go ahead with the procedure if it feels safe, or turn the patient away, knowing that they may not be able to access the care they're seeking without a long, expensive journey to a less restricted state.
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All of this against a backdrop of a building that has definitely seen better days.
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