Until recently, when a patient telephoned A Woman鈥檚 Choice in Charlotte wanting to schedule an appointment for an abortion, a hotline operator would answer their call within 30 minutes.
In the last few days, that wait time has sometimes ballooned to longer than an hour.
A Woman鈥檚 Choice has three clinics in North Carolina and provides abortions in addition to other services like testing for sexually-transmitted infections. The organization, like other abortion providers in the state, has seen a spike in calls after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday and most southern states enacted or prepared to enact abortion bans or restrictions.
鈥淲e are hiring more staff. We鈥檙e looking for medical assistants and bilingual folks to join our team,鈥� said Amber Gavin, vice president of advocacy and operations at A Woman鈥檚 Choice.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to reevaluate in the next couple of weeks as more patients are calling, if we need to add additional hours and days for our clinics.鈥�
Gavin said her organization has been receiving calls from Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina, though she added it鈥檚 鈥渢oo early鈥� to see the full impact of nearby states鈥� abortion restrictions. Charlotte-area abortion providers are accustomed to fielding a certain number of out-of-state calls.
Phones have also been ringing off the hook at a Planned Parenthood call center in Charlotte. In the hours after the Supreme Court opinion was released Friday and into the weekend, call volume 鈥渕ore than doubled,鈥� according to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic president Jenny Black. Planned Parenthood runs at least seven clinics in North Carolina that provide abortions, including one in Charlotte.
鈥淧eople are scared and confused,鈥� Black said.
But Black said the decision did not catch her organization off-guard. In fact, she said, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic has been extending clinic hours, adding staff and providing more training 鈥渇or months now,鈥� though she did not give specific numbers. Black said Planned Parenthood has also strategized how it might accommodate additional patients by increasing the physical footprints of its clinics.
鈥淲e have already been 鈥� trying to really ramp up and prepare for this moment,鈥� Black said.
The ever-changing map of where abortions are banned or heavily restricted isn鈥檛 making things any easier, both Gavin and Black said, because where abortions are and aren鈥檛 legal could significantly impact how many patients seek care in North Carolina. In South Carolina, a law restricting abortions after six weeks was allowed to take effect , after a federal court lifted its prior hold on the enforcement of a 鈥渇etal heartbeat law鈥� passed last year.
At A Preferred Women鈥檚 Health Center in Charlotte, executive director Calla Hales estimates there鈥檚 been roughly a 20% jump in appointment requests since the Supreme Court decision. Rather than scheduling patients for procedures within a week or two, Hales said, the volume is forcing staff to book dates around one month ahead of time.
鈥淐onsidering this is a time-sensitive procedure, that鈥檚 pretty hard,鈥� Hales said.
Hales said while she would like to hire additional employees, her clinic is having the same staffing issues as other healthcare fields.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just so simple as like, getting more staff. That staff also has to be trained. That鈥檚 not something we can do overnight,鈥� Hales said.
Planned Parenthood has faced some of the same challenges, according to Black.
鈥淭he market for labor is highly competitive in health care," Black said. "And then you layer on the protesters on the sidewalk screaming at your staff, and you really have to be ahead of the curve when it comes to being competitive with your wages and your culture."
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