Gov. David Ige will sign House Bill 576 into law at 1:30 p.m. today.
The legislation will permit advanced practice registered nurses to provide medication or aspiration abortion care in the first trimester of pregnancy — as long as they have prescriptive authority, practice within their specialty and have a valid and unencumbered license.
The bill also requires the procedure to be performed in a hospital licensed by the state Department of Health or operated by the federal government, in a clinic or APRN’s office.
Currently, only physicians can provide abortion services.
But according to the legislation, residents in West Hawaii as well as those who live on Kauai, Molokai and Lanai do not have access to local physicians who can provide such care.
“These residents are therefore forced to travel long distances to access care, increasing costs for travel, lodging and child care,” the bill reads. “Travel to reach care is an insurmountable barrier for people who already face systemic barriers to health care, including people with low incomes, young people, survivors of intimate partner violence and people in rural communities.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing challenges of the physician shortage and exacerbated current barriers to care.