WASHINGTON — Women’s clinics in the DMV say they are getting more inquiries about abortions ever since a draft decision leaked that suggested the Supreme Court was ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington provided WUSA9 with digital data from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. It says after Politico leaked the court’s draft decision on May 3, its affiliates saw a 30% increase in patients seeking to get appointments online for birth control.
“We're certainly seeing far more people with questions about abortion at this point,” said Dr. Serina Floyd, vice president of medical affairs and medical director at Planned Parenthood DC.
Planned parenthood's three local affiliates have not seen an increase in questions for contraceptives. However, Floyd points out the leak was only a week-and-a-half ago. Floyd added Planned Parenthood DC’s three clinics in the DC area were already seeing an increase in people from outside the area requesting abortion care prior to the Politico leak.
“It's only been a short period of time since the leak occurred, but we're definitely getting a lot more calls,” she said. “And, certainly people who are interested in trying to get appointments scheduled. We're seeing people who are coming to us from Texas, from Florida, from Georgia, from Ohio, from Pennsylvania.”
More people are also inquiring about medication abortions, according to other providers. A medical abortion is when two medications are used together to terminate pregnancy, typically within the first three weeks.
Christie Pitney, a telehealth abortion provider licensed to prescribe the medications in five states and DC, recently told CBS News she is seeing more people request the practice.
“We're seeing a huge increase in demand,” she said.
Floyd said interested patients are dealing with emotions like anger, frustration, and confusion ever since the Supreme Court’s leaked draft became public.
However, she said people need to remember locally that abortions are still legal in the D.C. region regardless of whatever they hear.
“We are open,” Floyd said. “We are seeing patients, we are performing abortions, we're doing whatever we can to accommodate patients for whatever their needs might be.”