A little bittersweet, I have to say.
One of the largest independent abortion providers in the nation opened a new clinic in New Mexico on Thursday, nearly nine months after it shuttered its clinics in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Whole Woman’s Health of New Mexico opened its Albuquerque clinic on Thursday. The clinic is expected to see 19 patients over the next few days, with 18 of them coming from Texas.
The clinic currently offers first- and second-trimester abortion procedures to people who are up to 18 weeks pregnant, with plans to expand to up to 24 weeks in the near future.
Whole Woman’s Health opened its first Texas clinic in Austin in 2003 and later expanded throughout the state. The organization had four clinics in Austin, McAllen, Forth Worth and McKinney before it announced plans to leave the state and reopen in New Mexico.
“As we open our doors to both local communities and those forced to migrate from other states for care, we remain unbelievably grateful for the thousands of supporters from around the world that came together to make this clinic a reality,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, the president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, said in a news release.
The New Mexico clinic is located minutes from the Albuquerque International Sunport Airport and all of its staff members are bilingual, the news release says.
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Whole Woman’s Health said New Mexico has become a “refuge” for patients seeking abortion care, including from Texas and Oklahoma, which is also among the 13 states that banned nearly all abortions after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
“Today marks the next chapter of our organization,” Marva Sadler, senior director of clinical services for Whole Woman’s Health, said in the news release. “In these times when abortion rights, health, and justice are under attack, our Albuquerque clinic will serve as a safe haven for abortion care,”
In June 2022, Whole Woman’s Health launched a GoFundMe campaign to relocate its Texas clinics to New Mexico, with more than 3,500 donors giving more than $300,000 toward the effort.
See here for the background, and here for a copy of the press release. I’m glad they are able to get back to the important business of caring for women and their reproductive needs. Lord knows, we need them. I just hope that someday they’ll be able to open back up here in Texas.