For much of the past two months, Amy Hagstrom Miller said her abortion clinics have been brought to a standstill since Texas imposed the country’s most restrictive abortion law that cuts off access before most women know they are pregnant.
"It's like we’re frozen in time," said Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman's Health and Whole Woman's Health Alliance. "My staff has to say no all the time, which is psychologically and emotionally difficult because they are trained to see everybody, but under this law, they have to serve as agents of the state and deny people care.”
Complying with the near-total ban on abortion has dramatically decreased the volume of women obtaining care in the state. In September, the number of abortions performed in Texas declined 50 percent from the same month in 2020, according to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas, Austin.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
Read the full story on NBCNews.com.