NPR reports:

Like most women seeking an abortion, Brittany Mostiller already had children when she unexpectedly got pregnant again. “I had two young daughters both under the age of 5, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with my sister,” she says.

She’d also just been laid off from her overnight job as a greeter for Greyhound buses. Her unemployment benefits were less than her wages there, and nearly all of them went toward rent and utilities. “I’m not even sure I had a cellphone at that time,” she says. “If I did, it was certainly on and off,” to save money.

Mostiller worried about finding another job while pregnant and then being able to take time off to care for a newborn. But mostly, she knew how expensive it was to have a baby, and she didn’t want to sacrifice the well-being of her two children by having a third she simply could not afford.

As it turned out, she couldn’t afford an abortion either. And in Illinois at that time 15 years ago, abortion was not covered by Medicaid. [Continue reading…]