It has been nearly two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, access to abortion services has become scarce, forcing many people to travel across state lines.
Tennessee enacted one of the most restrictive bans in the country, and the state has moved to criminalize traveling to nearby places like Illinois to seek care.
Travel is a difficult barrier, but it can be an impossible one to overcome for women on probation and parole who need approval in order to cross state lines.
According to a new briefing from the Prison Policy Initiative, an estimated 4 out of 5 women on probation or parole live in a state where abortion is limited, and their ability to seek an abortion out of state is up to the discretion of the correctional authority like a probation or parole officer. Most people under supervision are low-income and lack health insurance.
In Tennessee, probation and parole is operated by the state’s department of correction. WPLN reached out to TDOC to understand how the department might weigh a request for a woman to travel out of state for abortion care, but the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. More than 16,000 women are under probation and parole supervision in the state.
If you’ve had to get permission from the state to seek abortion services and want to share your story, reach out to [email protected].
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM