A new abortion provider is opening this year in Democratic-controlled Maryland -- just across from deeply conservative West Virginia, where state lawmakers recently passed a near-total abortion ban.
The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland, roughly 5 miles from West Virginia, will open its doors in June — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections — to provide abortions to patients across central Appalachia, a region that clinic operators say is an “abortion desert.”
Independent abortion clinics provide most abortions in the U.S. — especially for people with low incomes who live in isolated, rural states hostile to abortion access. The clinics are more likely to offer abortion after the first trimester and to provide both surgical and medication abortion options, according to the Abortion Care Network, the national association for independent abortion care providers.
When West Virginia lawmakers passed their sweeping abortion ban, several members of the Republican majority said they hoped it would force the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to shut down. Republican Sen. Robert Karnes said he believed shuttering the center was “going to save a lot of babies.” Brandon Steele, a Republican in the state’s House of Delegates, called abortion access “a scar” and “a curse” lawmakers had to “remove from this land.
The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will provide abortion services into the second trimester and will accept Maryland Medicaid, which covers abortion. It will also offer annual exams, contraception, testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings.
Maryland has a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that has shown commitment to preserving abortion access. Abortion is legal in Maryland until about 24 weeks into pregnancy. Renovations started last week on the Cumberland clinic — crews were installing new medical equipment and signage, deep cleaning, applying fresh paint, replacing floors and patching drywall.
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