So a young woman I work with (21) has recently become pregnant. She’s not in a serious relationship and all signs are the pregnancy wasn’t planned.

I have no idea what she’ll do it about it but I got to thinking about what she’d have to deal with if she decided to get an abortion.

It breaks down like this:

- There is only one abortion clinic in Mississippi, located in Jackson. Jackson is about 160 miles from where she’s at, so you’re looking at one full tank of gas minimum assuming you have a vehicle with decent MPG. That’d be about $55

- Mississippi abortion laws state: A woman must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage her from having an abortion and then wait 24 hours before the procedure is provided. Counseling must be provided in person and must take place before the waiting period begins, thereby necessitating two separate trips to the facility.

So she’d have to spend two days minimum in Jackson before she even got the procedure. Unless she has friends up there she can stay with, we’re looking at hotel expenses for a few nights.

- And then there’s the costs of the procedure and related items itself. She has insurance through our employer but they don’t cover abortion. So that would be out of pocket. She also has to have a state mandated ultrasound done before an abortion can happen. I’m not sure who picks up the tab for that one.

- This means she’s realistically looking at having to take four or five (which would be an entire vacation week) paid days off work to get this done.

- And on top of that, the doctors who work at the Jackson facility come in from out of state and are only the there a few days out of the month. This means she’ll have to wrangle with HR to see if she can get the required days off at the right time of month to go get the procedure done.

- Also notice I haven’t factored in any food or other incidental expenses yet.

So all told, we’re looking at a 320 mile road trip, four or five days off work and probably anywhere from $700-$1000 when you consider hotel, gas, food and medical related costs.

And apparently none of this actually constitutes an “undue burden” on her because the laws in question have already been passed and held up.

Since one of the laws IS held up, that at least means she won’t have to go out of state to get the procedure since that would necessitate even more gas and time off work.

Now, regardless of how you feel about abortion, should it ever be this hard to exercise a constitutional right?