Kentucky may lose the only clinic where abortions are performed

Photo: twitter / PP Advocates of INKY @PPAdvocatesINKY

Kentucky has 4 million people with just one abortion clinic. EMW Women's Surgery Center is located in Louisville, the largest city in the state, it has been operating since 1980. This is a private clinic that specializes exclusively in abortion at the request of the woman. The center, according to its website, works in accordance with strict Kentucky law: for example, women who decide to have an abortion must undergo a consultation, and the doctor who performs the abortion must listen to the fetal heartbeat and show the woman the results of the ultrasound and describe how it looks embryo. A woman has the right to look away or plug her ears at this moment. Even before the start of 2017, there were two clinics in the state where an abortion could be performed: the second one worked in the city of Lexington, but was forced to close under pressure from the authorities.

The same situation in six states. In North and South Dakota, Mississippi, Missouri, Wyoming and West Virginia, one abortion clinic remains. In these states, conservative sentiments are strong, and local authorities have tightened abortion legislation in recent years and create conditions in which clinics are forced to close. In Mississippi, this situation has emerged in the 2006 year, and the only clinic that performs abortions constantly sues the authorities and opposes conservative activists. In general, in the United States, the demand for abortions is indeed declining; now the number of abortions is at a record low level and is less than a million such operations per year. According to Vice, this is primarily due to the spread of contraceptives.

Authorities cannot prohibit abortion, therefore they are tightening the requirements for family planning centers. In the case of Kentucky, this process entered an acute phase after coming to power in 2015 in the year of Republican Governor Matt Bevin. He calls himself "unceremonious proleifer"And actively fighting against abortion. In just two years, he obliged institutions interrupting pregnancy not only to receive special licenses, but also to enter into agreements with ordinary clinics in case emergency assistance is needed.

This agreement was the reason for closing EMW. According to representatives of the center, they had such an agreement, but in March of this year, the state authorities suddenly decided that it did not meet the new requirements. Nobody notified the clinic that a new agreement should be concluded. Before Bavin came to power, family planning centers and private clinics conducting abortions faced protests from a conservative part of the population, but the authorities had never pressured them like that before, they say in EMW.

The center in Louisville continues to struggle for existence. On Wednesday, 6 September, a lawsuit began, in which EMW is seeking to find the state’s claims redundant. Currently, the clinic works only thanks to this lawsuit: formally, it is already recognized as non-compliant with the rules, but the court suspended the ban on work during the trial. The management of the clinic says that there is no need to negotiate with ordinary hospitals for the care of patients in case of complications: they are already obliged to accept any person in case of a threat to health. State officials say they are fighting for women's rights and are worried about their health. The claim will be considered several days. If the clinic loses, then Kentucky will be the first state in the US, whose residents will need to go to another region for the sake of abortion.