Bay Area Doctor Plans to Offer Abortions Via Boat off the Gulf of Mexico

[Judi Lynn]

Source: NBC


OBGYN organizing to bring abortions, reproductive healthcare to people in states like Texas, Louisiana, Alabama on federal waters.
By Alyssa Goard • Published 1 hour ago • Updated 50 mins ago

A Bay Area OB-GYN is organizing an effort to bring abortion services and reproductive healthcare to several southern states bordering the Gulf of Mexico via a ship sailing on federal waters. Dr. Meg Autry, who also works as a professor at UCSF, had already been working to bring this effort to life. But when Roe v. Wade was overturned, Autry said their plans were accelerated.

As first reported by KCBS, this plan called PRROWESS aims to bring reproductive healthcare to states where abortions are banned, limited, or hard to access.

In an interview with NBC Bay Area, Autry pointed out that people living in southern parts of states like Texas and Louisiana with restrictive abortion rules are actually closer to the coast than to nearby states with more abortion access. Plus, she noted, getting on a boat is cheaper and quicker than getting on a plane to another state.

Autry has performed abortions for decades and refers to herself as "a lifelong educator, a lifelong career abortion advocate."

Read more: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/floating-abortion-clinic-meg-autry/2940013/

[Sgent]

1. Galveston, Pensacola and the MS Coast

would be the obvious launch sites. Possibly New Orleans via Lake Pontchartrain but that's a much longer trip to get clear of the state boundaries. I don't know the ICW west of Galveston. That said, it will be easy to get shoreside services in New Orleans but much more difficult in the other cities (IDK about Galveston).

Houston has a large port but is located too far inland and is among too much traffic to make it a real option for this sort of situation.

[Hekate]

2. If gambling ships can operate that way, women's health delivery should be able to as well

[DonCoquixote]

3. may they be blessed

though let's face it, the men and women who think an ar-15 is the law will attack them, especially with dixie police and churches screaming yee-haw the first time these doctors get shot.

[DemocraticPatriot]

20. They better have their own armed guards, armed with AR-15s...

[LenaBaby61]

24. THIS 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻

[róisín_dubh]

4. This Dutch doctor has been doing similar things for decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Gomperts
She began working with women in the US in 2018. Such a shame that a supposedly advanced country requires such services.

[calimary]

5. VERY good and gratifying to see these workarounds popping up.

Yankee ingenuity strikes again!

Whatever barricades and obstructions you assholes put in our way, WE will find a way AROUND. Actually might be a slew of ways around.

There are MANY kinds of “mothers of invention”!

[oldsoftie]

10. Yes. I try to explain that to people about taxes.

People will ALWAYS find a way to pay less when they think the rate is too high.

[SunSeeker]

6. And a Dutch doctor is prescribing abortion pills to them.

https://news.yahoo.com/dutch-doctor-internet-making-sure-130027738.html

Good like trying to arrest her in Holland, Paxton!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Do patients ever need a fast emergency ride from the clinic to a hospital?

I hope the ship will have a helicopter and staff on board.

Creative idea, but I think a trip to a land-based clinic is safer.

Or, GOTV, and let's make abortion services available nation-wide.

[drray23]

23. or they may have ship equipped with full operating room

and ER capabilities just in case.

[Crazyleftie]

8. that would be easily detectable

if the authorities are prosecuting

[intheflow]

18. I was thinking the same.

The Repukes in power will just ban women from getting on boats. If they seriously think they can ban women from interstate travel, this is the next logical step (in their twisted ideology).

[oldsoftie]

9. Where there's a will, there's a way. Never thought of that.

Don't see how there's anything a State could do about it either.

[OldBaldy1701E]

13. The 'state' won't, but their crazy-ass followers will.

Without the means to protect themselves, they are just going to end up in the water with a sinking boat. Then there is the fact of fuel and supplies. What if those states decline to allow them to get those things? What if those bordering states decide not to allow this because they don't want to screw up interstate relations? Then, there is the 'safety search' that the state can attempt in the name of 'safety'. Once one is out on the water past the federal line.... you are on your own. I love the idea, but they will need help against those lunatics who will rush out to that boat just to shoot at it and try to sink it.

[oldsoftie]

14. Try that and the US Coast Guard will have something to say. even outside the 3 miles.

And getting fuel isn't a problem. Anyone can bring fuel to a ship. They can easily move around in the ocean; look how hard it is to find ships when people WANT to find them

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. But, will they?

Again, you seem to miss the fact that, unless that CG cutter is a constant companion, it won't make much difference if they are five miles away while a strike team of OathBreakers sneaks out one night and blast a hole in that ship the doctors will be using. Just as calling the cops is about useless when the cops are more than 30 seconds away and the gun is in your face. When the danger is active and in front of you, calling for help that will take minutes to arrive just means you are on your own. They need to arm that ship. Either that, or maybe do the 'Corbomite Maneuver' and convince them that no one would survive an attempt of that nature. I don't know, but there will have to be more done to protect that ship other than a wistful hope about the possible arrival of the Coast Guard if there is trouble. But, I am a cynic, so maybe this does not make sense to anyone else.

[Irish_Dem]

16. My first thought as well. They will be an easy target for the nut jobs.

[oldsoftie]

17. No problem with them arming themselves. Same reason people have guns at home.

Yes there IS a possibility someone could try something, but its also not easy to find a boat on open ocean. Or approach one without being seen. I doubt they'd be out there at night doing it. And anyone caught attacking a ship should be charged with piracy
Probably wouldnt be a stretch to think they could have "escort" boats to shadow them if threats become a possibility.

[OldBaldy1701E]

22. That is what I am saying.

They will have to arm themselves. I would also love for them to have escort. However, let us not forget the number of active and former military that have joined the fringes. All it would take is one of them. As to finding it, all that would take is one 'plant' with a AppleTracker. Unless the Planned Parenthood ship is practically a fortress in its own right, they would have problems aplenty. My wish is that they DO make it a fortress in its own right. Then, let the 'coverall mafia' try and mess with it!

[LastDemocratInSC]

11. Federal waters? Or international waters?

[mahatmakanejeeves]

12. Yeah, me too. NT

[reACTIONary]

19. Maritime limits and boundries...

Maritime limits and boundaries for the United States are measured from the official U.S. baseline, recognized as the low-water line along the coast as marked on the NOAA nautical charts in accordance with the articles of the Law of the Sea. The Office of Coast Survey depicts on its nautical charts the territorial sea (12 nautical miles), contiguous zone (24nm), and exclusive economic zone (200nm, plus maritime boundaries with adjacent/opposite countries).

https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/data/us-maritime-limits-and-boundaries.html

[CaptainTruth]

21. I wondered the same thing. Here's what I found:

"In a 1947 landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the state of California, saying the federal government held rights in all submerged lands of the Pacific seaward of the low-water mark. The U.S. Supreme Court gave a similar ruling against Louisiana and Texas.
Congress then created the Submerged Lands Act of 1953, which declared that states owned the submerged lands, and the natural resources within, seaward out to three nautical miles."

(Note how Congress passed a law to change a SCOTUS ruling... interesting.)

"International Waters: Once a vessel is in waters that are more than 24 miles off the coast of a country, they are considered to be on the high seas and in international waters. The laws used to govern in these waters are based on the country where the ship is registered and the flag it is flying."

[Upthevibe]

25. Judi Lynn....

Thanks for the post...