One of the nation’s largest independent abortion provider said Wednesday that it is pulling out of Texas and opening a clinic in New Mexico to support Texans and others facing limited abortion access after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision.
Whole Woman’s Health has operated in Texas for nearly two decades, getting its start in Austin in 2003, and later expanding to McAllen, Beaumont, San Marcos, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and McKinney.
The clinic is still searching for a site and seeking financial support from the public to make the move, Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman’s Health said in a statement.
“Even when the courts and the politicians have turned their backs on Texans, we never will,” said Hagstrom Miller said. “With the shuttering of our four Texas clinics, we do not have the financial reserves to open in New Mexico. We are asking for your help as we vacate our Texas clinics, move our needed equipment and supplies, buy and renovate a new clinic building, relocate and hire staff, and set up Whole Woman’s Health of New Mexico.”
If you can cast your mind all the way back to 2016, Whole Woman’s Health was the plaintiff in the SCOTUS case against the state of Texas that overturned the then-historically massive HB2, which was intended to shut clinics down by forcing them to adopt a bunch of medically unnecessary building codes. That type of law was called a TRAP law, and though a very different SCOTUS knocked it down it did have the effect of forcing a bunch of clinics to close while the suit was being litigated (thanks to the Fifth Circuit allowing the law to be in effect in the interim). That decision, which for about five minutes was seen as a way to fight back against states like Texas that had been slowly but effectively chiseling away at abortion rights, was largely but not entirely forgotten in the carnage after the Dobbs decision. Just thought it was worth mentioning here.
Anyway. Whole Woman’s Health is asking for your help as they make this move:
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We are stepping up to ensure everyone has a trusted independent abortion provider as nearby as legally possible, but we need your help.With the shuttering of our 4 Texas clinics, we do not have the financial reserves to open in New Mexico.
— Whole Woman’s Health (@WholeWomans) 9:50 PM – 6 July 2022
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We appreciate anything you can give as we navigate a future without #Roe.— Whole Woman’s Health (@WholeWomans) 9:50 PM – 6 July 2022
There are a lot of thing we need to be doing right now and in the coming months to get things back on a good path. This one should be up there at the top of your list. Please help if you can.