Columbus — Women’s Med Center of Dayton has confirmed to Pro-Choice Ohio that because of the implementation of Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban for nearly two months and the impending enforcement of Indiana’s near total ban on abortion they will cease patient services on September 15, 2022. The clinic ownership is also closing their Indiana facility.
Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director Kellie Copeland said: “This is a heartbreaking loss for everyone in West Central Ohio. Immediately following the Dobbs decision Governor DeWine and AG Yost worked swiftly to ensure that Ohio cut access to abortion as quickly as possible, having a devastating impact on people who need abortion care, especially those who are unable to travel to get that care. The closure of these facilities will only further that harm. Whether a person needs an abortion because it endangers their health, or their birth control failed, no one should be forced to give birth because they cannot access the health care they need in their community. On behalf of the Pro-Choice Ohio family, I want to thank the entire Women’s Med Center team who understood that and provided decades of service to their patients.”
The clinic, located in Kettering, has long been a direct target of Gov. Mike DeWine, Attorney General Dave Yost, anti-choice state legislators, and hateful extremist groups who identified the clinic as being geographically strategic in their efforts to punish people seeking abortion care.
Copeland continued: “Supporting the Dayton clinic was how we first began to work with Nan Whaley when she was mayor. Governor Kasich had signed new attacks on abortion providers for the sole reason of creating bureaucratic red tape specifically targeting Women’s Med Center of Dayton. Those attacks continued throughout Kasich’s tenure and into DeWine’s time as Governor. While Kasich, Dewine, and Statehouse Republicans crafted laws that tried to stop Dayton clinic doctors and hospitals from working together, extremist groups targeted these doctors’ homes. Mayor Whaley was the first to step up and defend Dayton patients and providers. Every Ohio voter needs to know that Nan Whaley is committed to continue defending them.
“As bad as things are now, they will get worse if we allow anti-abortion politicians to remain in office. We must turn out to vote in record numbers for candidates like Nan Whaley this November.”
Multiple amendments in various state budget bills and other bills attacking abortion care were designed by Republicans legislators and governors to weaponize the Ohio Department of Health and force Women’s Med Center to close their doors. Through the dedication of the clinic owners and staff, along with help from activists and Nan Whaley, the clinic had been able to beat back all of these attacks, until now.
- The 2013 Ohio state operating budget (House Bill 59) required all ambulatory surgical facilities, including abortion clinics, to have a transfer agreement with a “local” hospital. Local was undefined and these transfer agreements are completely medically unnecessary because all hospitals must treat anyone in an emergency situation. This bill also banned any public hospital from signing a transfer agreement with an abortion clinic, greatly limiting which hospitals in the state could sign such an agreement with a facility who provided abortion care.
- The 2015 Ohio state operating budget (House Bill 64) required that an ambulatory surgical facility (ASF) transfer agreement be with a hospital within 30 miles of the facility.
- House Bill 157, passed in December 2021, restricted the physicians’ ability to work with state-funded medical facilities, medical schools, and teaching hospitals if they also sign onto a variance application with an Ambulatory Surgical Facility.