Nine days in a Michigan abortion clinic, as election looms

The night before her abortion, Melissa got off work and dropped her kids off with the grandparents. She then drove nearly four hours from her Ohio home, across the state border into Michigan, arriving at her hotel at 3 a.m.

By 8 a.m., she was at the front desk at Northland Family Planning in metro Detroit, eyes puffy from exhaustion, hair pulled off her face into a loose bun, her hands disappearing inside the sleeves of her black sweatshirt. For the past three months, Melissa had been desperately trying to get this appointment.

“I was so relieved, after the struggle,” Melissa said, sinking into a chair inside one of the clinic’s waiting areas. She put her chin down on her chest, pink splotches appearing on her cheeks. She didn’t expect to cry. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”

On Nov. 8, Michigan voters will decide whether to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The vote comes as women from as far away as Florida and Texas have been coming to the state in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, seeking the legal abortions they can no longer get where they live.

Clinics that perform abortions are almost always closed to press. But Michigan Radio got a rare degree of access to Northland Family Planning, a group of clinics in suburban Detroit. For nine days in August and September, we shadowed a doctor and clinic staff through every step of the process. More than two dozen patients shared their stories with us, and what they believe is at stake in this election.