Fewer states allow abortions, yet American women are having more

On a commercial stretch of Queens, New York, across from a hair-braiding salon and next to a McDonald’s, two security guards mark the entrance to the Jamaica Sexual Health Clinic. For decades this has been the neighbourhood’s go-to place for sti testing and hiv treatment. Joaquin Aracena, from the Bureau of Public Health Clinics, proudly shows its newest addition: the reproductive-health wing. With freshly painted white walls and pastel-green doors, it is distinctly less institutional-looking than the rest of the clinic.

“Once they did [away with] Roe v Wade I was able to get this space,” he says. The clinic now offers walk-in medication abortions free to all. Word is clearly spreading; last year it provided just over 700 abortions, in January it was 100 and this morning the two nurse practitioners have already sent four women home with a non-transparent bag containing the pills they need to terminate their pregnancies (as well as a care package containing heating pads, pain medication and an information leaflet). Although the clinic has received visitors from other states, the majority of patients are locals.