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Abortion Access Eases With New Clinic In Maryland

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland will see its first patients on Sept. 13.

West Virginia is part of a so-called “abortion desert,” but a clinic with ties to the Mountain State is opening just over the border.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland will see its first patients on Sept. 13 to provide abortion services to patients across central Appalachia.

Originally, the clinic was set to open this summer, but some contractor timelines set the renovation back.

Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, will serve as executive director of the new Maryland clinic.

“Pretty standard for renovations, they typically always take longer than you expect,” Quiñonez said, referencing the delay in opening. “And as abortion providers, we often do what feels like impossible, so we can become pretty ambitious. And we might have set an early goal.”

By opening in Maryland, the clinic will be able to employ physicians who are licensed in states with less regulation, easing access to abortion services.

“We know that there are a large number of doctors in Maryland and regionally that are interested in providing abortion care in the state of Maryland just because where Women’s Health Center of Maryland is opening is going to be such a key regional access point for abortion care,” Quiñonez said.

Originally, the clinic was set to open this summer, but some contractor timelines set the renovation back.

*Courtesy Women’s Health Center of Maryland*

Quiñonez said the clinic will be a key regional access point for people seeking an abortion near West Virginia and other states that have passed abortion bans. Even in the state of Maryland, only two abortion providers operate, and they only offer first-trimester abortions and medication abortion.

“So again, that limits access for folks who need procedural abortion and folks who need abortion into the second trimester,” Quiñonez said.

Quiñonez said that while speaking with other clinics in the planning process of the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, she learned clinics in Pittsburgh, another option for West Virginia patients, were scheduling out six weeks ahead of time.

“So it’s really our sincere hope that Women’s Health Center of Maryland will be that regional access point for abortion care and hope to alleviate the intense demands the existing abortion providers that have been able to continue to provide that care in their states,” Quiñonez said.

The clinic will not only offer abortions, but comprehensive reproductive healthcare like contraception, annual exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, pregnancy and parenting support and gender-affirming hormone therapy.

“The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will be the western most abortion provider and gender-affirming hormone provider in the state of Maryland,” Quiñonez said. “And it will be the only nonprofit reproductive health care center in mountain Maryland.”

A bill passed during the 2023 West Virginia Legislative session outlaws West Virginians under 18 from being prescribed hormone therapy and fully reversible puberty blockers. It also bans minors from receiving gender-affirming surgery, something physicians say doesn’t happen in West Virginia anyway.

Unlike measures passed in other states, however, West Virginia’s law contains a unique exemption: It permits doctors to prescribe medical therapy if a teenager is considered at risk for self-harm or suicide.

Under the law, which will take effect in January 2024, a patient can be prescribed puberty blockers and hormone therapy after receiving parental consent and a diagnosis of severe gender dysphoria from two clinicians, including a mental health provider or an adolescent medicine specialist.

“Even if the only service that Women’s Health Center of West Virginia offered or that Women’s Health Center in Maryland will offer was abortion care, that would still be valid and necessary, because abortion is part of comprehensive reproductive health care that everyone should have access to,” Quiñonez said. “But the reality is that, much like many other independent clinics across the country that are providing abortion care, we are also providing other comprehensive reproductive health care”

The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia continues to provide cancer screenings, contraception and HIV and STI testing among other reproductive health care services.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

ACLU Drops Federal Lawsuit Against W.Va. Abortion Ban

West Virginia abortion providers and advocates dropped a federal lawsuit challenging multiple provisions of the state’s near-total abortion ban.

The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia said in a court filing Monday that one of the physicians involved in the suit “has now determined that he will not be able to resume providing abortion care in West Virginia at this time.” The other physician involved in the lawsuit is “no longer available for that role.”

“The physicians who previously worked at the clinic are not able to resume providing abortion care in West Virginia at this time, and so the plaintiffs have decided to discontinue the lawsuit, but have reserved the right to refile if and when the circumstances are right,” said Aubrey Sparks, managing attorney of the ACLU of West Virginia. “The ACLU remains committed to using every tool at our disposal to ensure that everyone in West Virginia can get the essential care they need.”

The lawsuit filed on Feb. 1 claimed West Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act is unconstitutional, irrational and caused irreparable harm to the clinic and its patients.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a press release that his office will continue to defend the state’s near-total abortion ban.

“As West Virginia’s first pro-life attorney general, I stand firm in the belief that it is our duty to protect innocent life,” Morrisey said. “We need to save as many innocent babies’ lives as legally possible. I am proud to stand for the most vulnerable of our society and the sanctity of life. My office stands ready to defend this clearly constitutional law to the fullest should this lawsuit be refiled, or against any other legal challenge.”

National Abortion Pill Rulings Puts W.Va. Lawsuit In Limbo

While Friday’s rulings are not directly related to West Virginia’s lawsuit, GenBioPro, the maker of Mifepristone, reacted to the legal wrangling and announced it is reviewing both federal court orders.

Access to the abortion pill in the U.S. is uncertain with two conflicting court rulings in Texas and Washington on Friday.

For more than 20 years, mifepristone has been FDA-approved for early abortion. In 2019, GenBioPro received FDA approval for a generic mifepristone product.

GenBioPro announced earlier this year it is suing West Virginia over its statewide abortion ban.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone, but that decision came at nearly the same time that U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice essentially ordered the opposite. Rice directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.

The split rulings likely put the issue on an accelerated path to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The abortion drug has been widely used in the U.S. since securing FDA approval and there is essentially no precedent for a lone judge overruling the medical decisions of the Food and Drug Administration.

In a statement, Evan Masingill, CEO of GenBioPro, acknowledged his company is not a party in that case, but that his team will review the court order in detail.

“Nothing in the court’s order changes the decades of science and evidence regarding mifepristone’s safety and efficacy,” Masingill said in a statement. “As we review the court’s order, we will continue to make our product available. We will take any steps necessary to lawfully make mifepristone available and accessible to as many people as possible in the country.“

According to the Associated Press, President Joe Biden said his administration would fight the Texas ruling.

Advocates Act To Cover ‘Abortion Desert’ In W.Va.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland will open its doors in June to provide abortion services to patients across central Appalachia.

Katie Quiñonez is the executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia. She will serve as executive director of the new Maryland clinic. West Virginia is part of what some call an “abortion desert.”

“There’s not another abortion clinic nearly 100 miles or more in any direction. That to me is an abortion desert,” Quiñonez said. “You know, the majority of the counties in the United States do not have an abortion provider located within those communities. Abortion should be accessible, people should be able to get the reproductive health care that they need without delay, without any barriers. Now, that’s not the reality that we’re living in.”

Until the Maryland clinic opens and can take referrals, Quiñonez and her staff have no other option but to send callers to a website to find out-of-state services. Even when the clinic opens, Cumberland is a more than three hour drive from Charleston.

The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia continues to provide reproductive health care services, like cancer screenings, contraception and HIV and STI testing among other services.

“While we absolutely wish that we could be providing abortion care in West Virginia, we know that opening a clinic in western Maryland where right now there is a lack of access to reproductive health care specifically that this is going to be a big game changer and it’s really important to the community,” Quiñonez said.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will provide abortion services into the second trimester, annual exams, contraception, testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases, and breast and cervical cancer screenings.

“While Women’s Health Center in Maryland will not be open to provide abortion care until June of 2023, we know that many more people are going to need abortion care in the meantime because people have always needed abortion since the beginning of time when people will always need abortions until the end of time,” Quiñonez said.

Lawmakers Move To Clarify W.Va. Abortion Ban

Senate Bill 552 replaces language that referenced “physician” and replaced it with “licensed medical professional.” It also includes language that would revoke a licensed medical professional’s license if they willingly violate the bill by performing an abortion outside of the parameters set in the bill.

A bill lawmakers are calling the Women’s Right to Know Act passed the Senate and now heads to the House for their consideration.

Amid a flurry of lawmaking on crossover day, the last day for a bill to pass out of its originating chamber, the Senate passed a bill to provide women with information and support to provide informed consent for abortions.

Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, explained Senate Bill 552 on the Senate floor.

“In the case of a female seeking an abortion of a nonviable embryo, or fetus, the bill provides information that is made available,” Maroney said. “The bill also provides a 24-hour telephone number that shall be established by DHHR to maximize public awareness of its existence, which may be called to obtain a list and description of agencies in the locality of the caller of the services that are offered.”

The bill faced some debate from Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, who questioned the logistics of the bill and its validity given GenBioPro, a manufacturer of generic mifepristone, commonly known as an abortion pill, is suing in federal court to invalidate West Virginia’s medication abortion ban.

Maroney said prescribers in West Virginia have to hold “a special license” to prescribe mifepristone and said no one is prescribing the drug in the state. In regards to the lawsuit, Maroney said he had no comment on the pending court case.

“We don’t really have a comment on the pending court case,” Maroney said. “I do believe this was constructed in a way to try to not affect any impending or any pending litigation.”

Caputo asked if the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources would operate the bill’s 24-hour hotline, and how that might play out given the current legislation awaiting Gov. Jim Justice’s signature that would restructure the department into four separate bureaus.

Maroney said the hotline would fall under the purview of the new Bureau of Public Health.

Caputo continued his questioning of Senate Bill 552, asking if the Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources had consulted with physicians about the language of the bill.

“I know you’re a physician, very well respected, and I respect you immensely, you know that,” Caputo said. “Have you had any conversations with OBGYN in regard to this legislation? And I’d like to know if you did, what their thoughts were on this?”

“Yes. I mean briefly, mostly during the special session, more so than this, this bill. Their thoughts are they’re going to abide by the law, whatever that law is. And they just tried to guide us to make sure that our bill was at least as close as possible to allowing them to perform this standard of care,” Maroney said. “I didn’t ask him for their input. I did ask him, and they were the ones that told me about no one in the state is prescribing them mifepristone.”

Finally, the bill provides for perinatal hospice service, something Caputo asked for a definition of. Maroney answered that support would be provided for comfort measures to help people deal with the loss of a child.

After debate on the bill, Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, stood in support and spoke in favor of Senate Bill 552 and clarified the discussion around perinatal hospice service allowed for in the bill.

“This law, the Women’s Right to Know Act, and all of the criteria set here in terms of making sure a woman has information when she’s making a decision as to whether or not to abort, making certain she has access to perinatal hospice services, which is counseling, and essentially support and help, there are times in which even a child who they say cannot live outside the womb does live, maybe for one hour, maybe for a day, but it does happen,” Rucker said.

She said the bill is already law in West Virginia, referencing House Bill 302, the state’s near-total abortion ban passed in 2022.

“We are reinserting it because when we passed our law in September, this inadvertently got left out. And yes, we do prohibit, in the state of West Virginia, abortions except for cases of rape and incest, and if the fetus is basically not viable. If it’s an ectopic pregnancy, that’s not considered an abortion,” Rucker said. “But the point being, even in those cases of rape and incest, a woman should have all the information and support and services, even in the cases where the fetus is not viable, a woman should be wrapped around with support information.”

Senate Bill 552 passed with 31 voting yea, two nays, and one absent.

Attorney General Moves To Dismiss GenBioPro Abortion Lawsuit

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by GenBioPro challenging the state’s abortion ban.

GenBioPro, a manufacturer of generic mifepristone, a medical abortion pill, filed a January lawsuit, suing in federal court to invalidate West Virginia’s medication abortion ban on the grounds the state is blocking its residents from accessing a drug approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to a press release from Morrisey’s office, mifepristone is not banned under the Unborn Child Protection Act, also known as House Bill 302, West Virginia’s abortion ban.

He said the drug could still be used in legal abortions in the state, which are only allowed in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother.

“As I have said before, while it may not sit well with manufacturers of abortion drugs, the U.S. Supreme Court has made it clear that regulating abortion is a state issue,” Morrisey said. “I will stand strong for the life of the unborn and will not relent in our defense of this clearly constitutional law.”

Morrisey was assisted by attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom, a self-proclaimed Christian-led legal organization, in filing the motion to dismiss GenBioPro’s lawsuit.

While not directly related to this lawsuit, the law is also being questioned in court by the ACLU. The group filed a lawsuit saying the state’s abortion law passed through the West Virginia Legislature in less than 24 hours, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

House Bill 302 outlaws abortion in West Virginia, with limited exceptions. In instances of legal abortion, the procedure is limited to M.D.s and Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine.

During the 2023 regular legislative session, several lawmakers have also signed on to a bill removing exemptions for rape and incest.

GenBioPro’s legal counsel, Democracy Forward, is challenging state abortion bans on behalf of drug manufacturers with its President and CEO Skye Perryman at the lead.

In response to Morrisey’s Feb. 21 filing, Perryman said, “We are reviewing Attorney General Morrisey’s response and are confident in the merits of our case.”