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In the relentless nightmare that is the post-Roe United States, it can be hard to find the bright spots for abortion rights. Maternal mortality rates in states with abortion bans are increasing. South Carolina, which already has a draconian six-week abortion ban in effect, is now debating whether to ban nearly all abortions in the state. The future of mifepristone access remains murky and tenuous under the Trump administration and hostile congressional Republicans.

Yet amid the horror and chaos, there have been some notable victories for abortion rights and access, from the political to the practical. And while these efforts can’t and won’t all the harm of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, they do show that it is possible — and ever-more essential — to try to make any meaningful change in support of abortion access.

After the fall of Roe v. Wade, Illinois has become a safe haven for abortion seekers from across the country — in fact, around 1 in 4 people seeking abortion care from out of state choose Illinois. In response to the ongoing abortion access crisis, Gov. JB Pritzker has done more than offer empty lip service to abortion rights.

House Bill 5408, Pritzker’s initiative, sponsored by Illinois State Rep. Anna Moeller, would create an abortion access fund to cover abortion for uninsured and underinsured people in Illinois. The bill cleverly uses an existing Affordable Care Act provision which requires insurance plans that cover abortion care to collect at least $1 a month and, instead of insurance companies keeping those unused funds, directs them to the state. The bill has already passed the Illinois House of Representatives and is now heading to the state senate.

Pennsylvania Court Rules State Law Banning Funds for Abortion Is Unconstitutional

This bill is exactly what blue states should be doing — expanding access by making abortion more financially accessible, particularly for those who lack insurance coverage that covers abortion. For decades, abortion funds have bridged the gap between legality and access, providing financial support to abortion seekers. For too long that burden has fallen on small, independent nonprofits instead of the government, where it belongs. Pritzker’s initiative is a step toward rectifying that longstanding wrong.

In direct response to the 2024 passage of Prop. 139, in which Arizona voters codified abortion rights into the state constitution, an Arizona judge struck down three laws that limit abortion access in February of this year. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gregory Como struck down the state’s mandatory ultrasound law, which required patients to make two trips 24 hours apart to have an abortion, and a law requiring patients to give a reason for seeking abortion. These are critical wins, especially for patients who may be traveling from banned states to seek care in Arizona. Now, they will no longer be forced to wait 24 hours between a medically unnecessary ultrasound in order to have the abortion they already know they want.

Judge Como also struck down the state’s onerous ban on mailing medication abortion. Now, abortion providers can provide telehealth access to abortion care in Arizona, a significant win for abortion patients. As brick-and-mortar abortion clinics continue to close, even in “protected” states, the ability to access medication abortion through telehealth could dramatically improve access for abortion seekers, particularly those in rural areas, far from urban centers where most abortion clinics remain.

Telehealth for medication abortion is a critical solution to the continued closure of abortion clinics, but it’s not the only one. Increasingly, urgent care centers are stepping in.

When a Planned Parenthood center in Marquette, Michigan, closed in 2025, approximately 1,100 patients were left without access to the critical care that Planned Parenthood provides, including abortion care. While telehealth is an option in Michigan, some patients want to meet with a provider face to face. And with the increase in telehealth requests at the remaining clinics in Michigan, it can be harder for providers to meet the demand.

Enter physician Shawn Brown.

Brown is the provider at an urgent care clinic in Marquette, providing immediate medical assistance for folks in the small port town. When the Planned Parenthood closed, Brown saw a vacuum in care in her own community, and decided to do something about it — she decided to offer medication abortion.

Medication abortion is safe and effective, and patients can manage an abortion at home safely, in consultation with their physician. Now, in Marquette, they have somewhere to go physically to feel seen, heard, and cared for. Brown’s decision to incorporate medication abortion into her urgent care is a sign of a new practical solution in expanding access to abortion care, one that physicians in other protected states should note, and hopefully adopt. While this may seem like common sense, this is a new development, and one that brings the possibility of expanded access in parts of protected states that lack an abortion clinic.

For the past three years, a group of University of Oregon (UO) students have been pressuring their school to offer medication abortion on campus. They faced legislative defeats; in 2023, just a year after Dobbs, the Oregon legislature passed the Reproductive Health and Access to Care Bill, which expanded access to abortion and ended the state’s unjust parental consent law. But the law left out a key provision, requiring public universities in Oregon to provide on-campus medication abortion.

Instead of accepting defeat, UO students channeled their energy into advocacy. After years of pushing and campaigning, they finally succeeded — the University of Oregon announced that it will provide abortion pills to students beginning in the fall of 2026. Students will be able to make an appointment with the university health center and access medication abortion, just like any other safe prescription that the university provides. And Oregon isn’t the only state making this change — a new Colorado bill would require colleges and universities to provide students with access to medication abortion on campus.

These wins show that it is possible to take back the narrative, to defend abortion as a moral good, to protect it and ensure access to those who have been denied for far too long. We can’t undo the horrors of Dobbs in a small series of wins, but we can improve access for some. More importantly, we can signal that abortion is worth defending and protecting, that we will not accept a political framing that pits us against our own bodies. The fight against Dobbs is a marathon, and these are just the first few steps in reaching that destination.

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Lauren Rankin is the author of Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America, about the legacy of everyday volunteers on the fight for abortion right. Her writing has been featured at the Washington Post, The Cut, Fast Company, Slate, Teen Vogue, TIME, and many more. She spent six years as a clinic escort in New Jersey and is on the board of A is For, a reproductive rights advocacy nonprofit.

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