The Supreme Court overturned abortion rights.
If you are an architect and are willing to be included on a list to assist abortion clinics in states where abortion remains legal, Jordan and I are creating a list. Let us know Spread the call quickly.
—lori brown (@lori_a_brown) July 2, 2022
Brown and Kravitz are professors at the Syracuse University School of Architecture. Brown said about 90 architects responded to the call. The goal is to get a team of architects who are willing to help design and build new clinics in states where abortion is legal.
The women are at the forefront of a movement that supports reproductive rights.
The profession of architecture is dominated by men. According to a 2020 report from the American Institute of Architects, only a small percentage of architects are female.
In the profession, it has been ostracized. "Because abortion is so politicized in this country, a lot of people don't want to think about working on a project like this."
Architects rarely take on abortion clinic projects. abortion clinics don't realize that architects can help them navigate design and building complexity
"We're trying to mainstream the issues around abortion as a place where architects need to be engaged and working on and helping design." For providers to know that there are so many people who are interested in working with them.
They're going to keep the list a secret and only distribute it through known abortion online distribution lists and networks to avoid being harassed or threatened.
Brown is in the academy. I don't depend on clients for my income. A lot of the architects take a financial hit.
She said that they started the list because people have to stand up.
They will focus on sending architects to states where abortion is legal in order to save money.
A set of guidelines will be created to help future architects design spaces dedicated to reproductive rights and abortion. No such guidelines exist currently. She hopes the effort will help standardize practices.
The question of the legality of abortion is now in the hands of individual state legislatures, which makes the procedure illegal in 22 states. There could be additional restrictions in other areas.
The ruling won't stop people from getting an abortion. People have begun to seek care overseas. Some people continue to cross state lines.
A pregnant 10-year-old girl from Ohio went to Indiana to have an abortion. The girl wasimpregnated by the man who admitted to raping her.
Some states may be overburdened because there aren't enough abortion clinics. An influx of more than 8,000% is projected for Illinois.
Traveling out of state is hard for a lot of people. Insider previously reported that some Americans might pay as much as $10,000 to cross state lines and get an abortion, which includes the cost of the procedure, hotel, transportation, and other expenses.
They anticipate an influx of patients.
"Because of this, there's just not enough abortion clinics in the states where abortion is legal to provide services for all of these women that need them, so they're going to have to build," she said. These spaces are going to have to be expanded.
The two want to make it easier for women to get an abortion.
Women say architects are useful to abortion providers because they can think about implementing safeguards, improving the patient experience, and staying in compliance with local laws and regulations.
The establishment of secure passageways for patients to walk through is a safeguard. People who have had an abortion can be protected from harassment when they leave the facility.
Everyone knows what happens when you leave.
Bulletproof windows can be used to deter or prevent dangerous situations.
These safeguards aren't universal when it comes to establishing abortion clinics because there are no guidelines for architects to follow. An architect's job is to anticipate the patient's experience and design elements that fit it.
It's important for women to be involved in healthcare architecture because of this.
"Abortion is healthcare, and we should be, especially in the architecture, design, and healthcare world, talking about abortion clinics like we talk about dental clinics or hospital patient towers."
Rules that don't make sense for an abortion clinic can be fought against by architects.
They can argue that they don't need to follow certain laws that make it harder to open an abortion clinic.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, these rules are called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws, and they're imposed to curtail the abilities of abortion clinics. The Institute says that the laws go beyond what is necessary.
Architects can help navigate that space.
Building code standards that don't improve the health and safety of women's care are some of the laws. There are no architects in the groups that make the changes in building codes. People who don't have a lot of expertise in the build environment are the most common ones.
The goal of an architect is to guide abortion providers through the process of opening a clinic.
"We are well-suited to be able to read and understand building codes, and also to argue and advocate for ones that are sensible and ones that are only political." Many of the TRAP laws are political and should not exist.
The design of abortion clinics is rarely discussed in the architecture community.
The architecture community hasn't spoken out about abortion or architecture.
The goal of the effort is to challenge the stigma of abortion and reproductive rights within architecture.
Brown said that architecture needs to be more involved in everyday life. One of the places where we have been missing is abortion.
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