Women race political clock, cross state lines for abortions

DAYTON, OHIO (AP) — In the dim light of a clinic ultrasound room, Monica Eberhart reclines on an exam table as a nurse moves a probe across her belly. Waves of fetal cardiac activity ripple across the screen.

“The heartbeat,” the nurse says. “About 10 weeks and two days.”

Eberhart exhales. It’s good news. “That means I’m just under,” she says, raising her hands and crossing her fingers.

The 23-year-old mother of three is racing a political clock. When she learned she was pregnant again, she decided abortion was her best choice — even if meant navigating a patchwork of state laws enacted since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Hours after the ruling in late June, Ohio imposed a ban on abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, at about six weeks of pregnancy. Since then, Women’s Med clinic in Dayton has been referring hundreds of patients like Eberhart to its sister facility of the same name in Indiana, 120 miles away. There, in-clinic abortions are allowed until 13 weeks and six days of pregnancy — for now. Indiana lawmakers recently approved a ban on almost all abortions, after weeks of debate in the Statehouse. The law takes effect Sept. 15.

At just over 10 weeks into her pregnancy, Eberhart will need to travel to Indianapolis for an abortion. It's disruptive, an inconvenience — but she's more than ready. With new state laws and court challenges popping up on what seems like a daily basis, she doesn’t want to wait any longer.

“I have to get it done, I can’t really wait. I’ve put everything on hold just to get this one thing handled,” Eberhart says. “I absolutely cannot afford another baby, whether that be financially or mentally.”

Women’s Med has performed few abortions in Ohio since the state ban was...