Floating abortion clinic planned off Alabama coast in Gulf of Mexico
Updated: Jul. 10, 2022, 7:07 a.m. | Published: Jul. 10, 2022, 7:00 a.m.By Mary Colurso | mcolurso@al.com
A California doctor plans to offer abortion services to women in Southern states such as Alabama, via a boat that operates as a floating clinic in federal waters off the Gulf Coast, according to news reports.
Dr. Meg Autry, an OB-GYN in San Francisco, aims to raise about $20 million for the project known as PRROWESS, or Protecting Reproductive Rights of Women Endangered by State Statutes.
“The project is being funded with philanthropy and the patients care is on a needs basis, so most individuals will pay little to nothing for services,” Autry said in an interview with NBC Bay Area.
Autry, who’s also a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said the floating clinic will provide surgical abortions up to 14 weeks, contraception, on-site testing for sexually transmitted infections and more.
Her goal is to offer reproductive services to women in states with laws that ban abortion, limit the procedure or make it hard to access. A team of licensed medical professionals would staff the clinic for about three weeks per month, according to Autry’s plan.
PRROWESS hopes to acquire a donated boat, Autry said, that would be transformed into a floating clinic. Money raised by the project also would be used for ongoing costs such as patient care, security and liability insurance.
Floating abortion clinic planned off Alabama coast in Gulf of Mexico
The clinic, floating in federal waters, would not be subject to abortion restrictions in nearby states, according to Dr. Meg Autry.