It’s very possible that Vice President Kamala Harris could win the presidency after a campaign heavily focused on abortion rights and pledges to pass federal protections. Pro-choice ballot measures may pass multiple states in what some people are gleefully referring to as “Roevember”—if only, for some, to sell merch. But it’s also looking increasingly likely that multiple all-trimester abortion clinics, which between hype-filled campaign seasons remain the safety net for people turned away elsewhere, could shutter in the next few months. These potential closures include at least one facility set to close by the end of the year; what will follow is a disastrous ripple effect for the clinics that remain. So, yes, if Harris wins, the nation will have averted the likeliest avenues to a threatened national abortion ban. And yet, weeks after a historic Roevember, there could be more people denied abortions than ever before.

This is the paradox of the first presidential election after the Dobbs decision: Record numbers of people say they support abortion rights, and pro-choice candidates and statewide amendments have raked in huge sums of money. But because of a lack of investment in the actual infrastructure of abortion care over decades, the electoral victories we may be on the verge of celebrating won’t prevent clinics from closing their doors. And the closures could come at a time when state bans are pushing abortion-seekers ever later into pregnancy and limiting care for people who get devastating fetal diagnoses.

There are thought to be seven all-trimester clinics in the entire country. DuPont Clinic, an all-trimester provider in Washington, D.C., said it has lost more than $500,000 since July 1 after national groups put strict caps on patient funding. Karishma Oza, DuPont’s director of care coordination, said if that rate of loss continues and they don’t get support to close the funding gap, the clinic will have to close by the end of the year.

“Even though technically the clinic is a for-profit, we were never profitable,” Oza said of the clinic, which opened in 2017. “But now with these cuts, we are going from pay period to pay period.”

December 31 is weeks before Inauguration Day, and even if Harris were to pull off the huge upset of a Democratic trifecta, it would take months to pass federal protections that overturn state bans and reduce the pressure on clinics like DuPont. Even so, that kind of legislation doesn’t help them pay off their debts.

Clinics like DuPont are going on the record about their balance sheets to sound the alarm and call for donors to help preserve meaningful access. Oza urged foundations that care about reproductive rights and have emergency funding available to give directly to all-tri clinics or local abortion funds. “I’m not trying to scare people, but it is very real that clinics will need to shut down if we can’t recuperate some........

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