Kentucky's first ever recognized abortion clinic was created in 1974, the year after the landmark supreme court abortion case, Roe v Wade. Now, in 2017, Kentucky is back down to one abortion clinic, and that one might be shut down too. That clinic, EMW Women's Surgical Center, is being threatened to be shut down by the government because of deficiencies in licensing paperwork. If that shut down happens, Kentucky will be the only state with zero abortion clinics in the country.
Not that this abortion clinic is such a cake walk. Women who walk into the building must walk past protesters screaming at them, calling them names, and holding up graphic anti-abortion signs.
Right now, a federal district judge is deciding whether or not the state's paperwork requirements are constitutional. This case could go all the way up to the highest court in the land-the US Supreme Court. And it could have far reaching consequences for women all over the country.
The lack of abortion clinics isn't just happening in Kentucky, it's happening everywhere. The number of abortion clinics in the US is slowly but surely dropping over time. A lot of states across the country are creating stricter rules to try and limit the number of abortion clinics across the state. There is something called TRAP Laws or Targeted regulation of abortion provider laws. These TRAP laws are burdensome and difficult to meet regulations that are meant to shut down abortion clinics. These laws are likely why Kentucky's last abortion clinic might get shut down.
Now, regardless of how one feels about abortion, shutting down abortion clinics is not going to stop abortions, it's just going to make them more difficult and more dangerous to obtain.
Roe V Wade wasn't decided in the supreme court until 1973 but that certainly doesn't mean that no woman got an abortion before 1973. Illegal abortion doctors/clinics or the do-it-yourself method (like with a hanger-not exactly sanitary) have been around forever. Of course, these doctors are often quacks who don't know what they're doing and giving yourself an abortion is extremely dangerous and painful so these illegal abortions unfortunately often end in death for the woman. Women are always going to need or want abortions. Sometimes the fetus threatens the life of the mother, sometimes it's a result of rape or incest, or sometimes the woman just doesn't have the resources to raise a child or even carry the fetus to term. Getting rid of abortion clinics is NOT going to stop women from getting abortions-it's just going to make it harder for them.
And if this last abortion clinic is shut down in Kentucky, women can always drive to a nearby state, but the states in the south are very spread out and oftentimes, so are the abortion clinics. If a mother is at risk because of her fetus, it'll be very taxing for her to travel so far to get an abortion, but she will feel like she has to.
Women are going to get abortions no matter what states do about abortion clinics, and overturning Roe V Wade is a very unlikely scenario. So since they're going to get abortions either way, we may as well have a legal and safe way for them to do it. So instead of getting rid of Kentucky's last abortion clinic, let's build another one.