Salon: Shelter from the storm (Second-term abortions)

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They come from faraway towns where second-term abortions are impossible to find. Catherine Megill and the Haven Coalition are there to help them.

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Nicole was the first person we hosted as members of a New York-based organization called the Haven Coalition, founded in 2001 by abortion rights advocate Catherine Megill. Haven is a group of about 50 New York City households that offer free overnight housing to women coming from surrounding states -- some as far as Maine -- for second-trimester abortions, which are rarely available closer to home. (Second-trimester procedures take two days because the cervix is dilated overnight, using sterile sticks of seaweed called laminaria.)

Why do they come to New York? While Roe vs. Wade is the law of the land, making abortion broadly legal, actual access to it is often blocked by thickets of state laws and persistent stigmas. According to Haven, legal and logistical restrictions on abortion -- parental consent requirements, lack of Medicaid funding, and the like -- push many women past the date at which services are available in their area, and therefore into New York. Here, abortions are available up to 24 weeks of pregnancy -- longer than in most nearby states, even in the liberal Northeast -- and are significantly more accessible, both legally and financially. Even as "Save Roe!" alarms ring louder, Megill's and Haven's efforts -- and the need for them -- are a reminder that for women with limited resources, "choice" is a mere concept; their rights may already hinge not on the courts, but on sandwiches, bus tickets and the futons of strangers. Women seeking later-term abortions "have been trained to feel shame and guilt, but when you hear their stories you could never feel that you could judge this decision," says Megill. "Well, I guess you could, but that means you're not listening."

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The person who inspired Megill to make Haven official was a 20-year-old rape victim she hosted who'd been living on and off the Philadelphia streets. "She was very shy. She didn't talk much, just kept her head down," says Megill. "She did say she hadn't been able to sleep because she didn't have anywhere safe; she would always worry about being assaulted again. At one point I said, 'I'm just going down to get the laundry,' and she said, 'I'll come with you.' We walked into the elevator, and she walked into my arms and gave me a hug." Once they talked more, they found out they had much more in common than they'd assumed: minister fathers, a strict upbringing. "In the morning I said, 'Did you sleep?'" says Megill. "And she said, 'I was able to sleep because you were here.'

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http://salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/06/08/haven_coalition/index.html