CHICAGO - As the economy worsens, providers of reproductive services say they are fielding more calls from distraught women facing difficult decisions about pregnancies they didn't plan and can't afford.
The interviews also suggest that more women are struggling to afford contraception and that, in some cases, they are risking their physical and emotional health by delaying abortion procedures for weeks as they seek a way to pay the cost.
One married woman told the Chicago Tribune she and her husband made the painful choice to end her pregnancy because they could not afford a third child. But the family's insurance doesn't cover abortions, and not until her 14th week could they pull together enough money to pay.
Abortion rates have been declining for years, and experts said it is too early to know if the nation's financial woes will change that trend. Government and private agencies that track abortions have not yet compiled statistics for 2008 or early 2009.
But Planned Parenthood of Illinois says that in January it performed the highest number of abortions in its history. (The agency has a policy against disclosing the actual numbers.)
Meanwhile, calls to The Cradle, a private adoption agency in Evanston, Ill., have increased in number over the past two months, according to agency spokeswoman Joan Yaeger. Women exploring alternatives to abortion also have been calling pro-life and faith-based organizations for counseling.
"We definitely have seen more women coming to our clinics," said Angie Weszely, president of Caris Pregnancy Counseling and Resources, a faith-based group that operates several crisis pregnancy clinics in the Chicago area.
"The women who come to us, a lot of times they are saying: 'I'm pregnant and I don't want to be. I don't want to have an abortion, but I don't see another way out.' Definitely the economy is playing into it," she said. "We know it is a factor."
The National Network of Abortion Funds, whose members raise money to help women pay for abortions, says calls to state and local affiliates from women seeking financial assistance have increased from 50 percent to more than 100 percent in recent months. Calls to the national office, which provides referrals, have almost tripled from a year ago, said board chairwoman Toni Bond Leonard.
"The demand for funding has increased because of the economic downturn, because women are losing their jobs or the partners have lost their jobs and they've lost their health insurance," she said. "Or their bills are such that they don't have any additional income."
A recent report compiled by the network found that more than 75 percent of the calls came from women who were at least four months pregnant, Leonard said.
"No woman purposely waits until her second trimester to have an abortion procedure," said Gaylon Alcaraz, director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. "They are trying to raise money, get resources, get things together."
The woman who terminated her pregnancy at 14 weeks - a mother of two whose husband is stationed at a military base in Texas - said it took time to find the money to pay for her abortion, which the family's military insurance did not cover.
"I don't like the fact of an abortion," said the woman, who asked that her name not be published because some family members do not know she ended a pregnancy. "It's really not the easy way out."
Another young woman, living in western New York, said she searched for several weeks before securing financial help from a private group that funds abortions.
With her fiance out of work and their savings exhausted, the 24-year-old dental assistant said she had decided she couldn't afford to carry her pregnancy to term.
"It (stinks) that it comes down to money," said the woman, who asked that her name be withheld. "But if we can't even support ourselves it wouldn't be good for a baby."
Sondra McEnroe, board member of Central Illinois Right To Life Inc., said her organization tries to persuade women that they can avoid choosing abortion even if they are feeling crunched by the economy.
"Almost all women who understand that it's a life, that it's a baby no matter what stage it is, once they realize that and understand that there are people who can help them, they usually can work it out," she said.
Some Planned Parenthood clinics say they have seen more people seeking contraception services. At the same time, some women are limiting birth control to save money, a troubling trend that could increase their risk of an unwanted pregnancy, health professionals said.
"These economic hard times are forcing people to make the tough decisions and ask scary questions of themselves," said Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois. "Should I pay the mortgage or put food on the table for my family? ... Can I pay for basic health care and necessary medication? Can I afford to have another child?"
Shanie Scott, legislative director of Planned Parenthood-Shasta Diablo in northern California, said the center is seeing more clients who are unemployed and have lost their health insurance.
Many are looking for longer-acting contraceptives, such as Depo-Provera, a three-month shot, so they don't have to worry about paying for more frequent birth control, she said.
Shjavon Griffin, manager of Planned Parenthood's Englewood Health Center, said she has noticed that women who usually buy several months of birth control pills at once now get only a one-month supply.
Generally speaking, contraception costs range from about $50 to $60 for a pack of birth control pills to $800 to $1,000 for an IUD, plus the costs of a Pap smear and a physical. Prices for contraception vary widely depending on insurance and where the birth control is purchased - a Planned Parenthood clinic, a health center, a private physician's office or a pharmacy.
Planned Parenthood and other providers say they try to help women in financial need. One Planned Parenthood clinic on the South Side provides some women with free services.
Others are referred to Illinois Healthy Women, a federal Medicaid waiver program that covers birth control and reproductive health services - but not abortion - for eligible women.
A spokesman said the program, operated out of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, received 5,100 applications in the first six months of 2008, more than 7,300 in the latter part of the year and 2,600 already this year.
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(c) 2009, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Mclatchy-Tribune News Service.