After the fall of Roe v. Wade, North Dakota’s Red River Women’s Clinic moved two miles away, into Minnesota and a new political reality. By Emily Witt Photograph by Dave Kolpack / AP For more than two decades, the Red River Women’s Clinic, the only provider of abortion services in the state of North Dakota, occupied a small brick building in downtown Fargo. The clinic saw patients on Wednesdays, when an average of twenty to twenty-five people receiving abortions would arrive from places such as Minot, Bismarck, or Grand Forks. The clinic became a symbol of sorts: as long as it was open, abortion in North Dakota remained a legally protected option, a fact that no number of anti-abortion billboards along the interstates could override. But last June, a few days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, North Dakota’s attorney general, Drew Wrigley, certified a law banning abortion in most cases. A lengthy court battle would end up keeping abortion legal in North Dakota for several more months, but the Red River Women’s Clinic recognized that it could no longer operate in the state. Today, the practice’s logo is still painted on the side of the building, but the patients are gone, and a sign in the window that once read “This clinic stays open” has been taken down. Yet, unlike many clinics in states where abortion has been banned in the past year, the Red River Women’s Clinic is still in business. It now operates in the neighboring city of Moorhead, Minnesota. As North Dakota has proceeded to ban most abortions, Minnesota has moved in the opposite direction, adding protections and removing barriers to access. These shifts have put the Red River Women’s Clinic in an unusual position. Forced to shutter in its home state, it can now provide care with greater freedom just a few minutes away. Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » |
No comments:
Post a Comment