Five states have only one abortion facility left — Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia, according to an updated report by Operation Rescue.
Kentucky’s final abortion mill, EMW Women’s Center, is currently at the center of a legal showdown that could leave the Bluegrass State completely abortion-free, should a court decide in favor of the state’s right to regulate abortion facilities. The Louisville facility lost its lease in January, and last year had been found committing unlicensed abortions. The case, which could make Kentucky the first state without an abortion facility, could also be appealed all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At the start of the year, six states had a single remaining facility; however, the Kansas City, Missouri, Planned Parenthood added medical abortions.
Kentucky
Kentucky, where abortion facilities and providers are known for their “shoddy” level of care, is home to EMW Women’s Surgical Center, a facility which has had expired medication and was described as “filthy.”
Mississippi
The Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Mississippi has been saluted by abortion activists, who seem to like its pink color, but with a number of health violations, the facility is not exactly known for patient safety.
North Dakota/South Dakota
At Abortion Docs, Lori L. Thorndike is listed as working at the Planned Parenthood Sioux Falls Clinic and the Red River Women’s Clinic, and the site notes that she “[p]erformed abortions in North Dakota for several months without a valid medical license.” Nicola Louise Moore, also of the Sioux Falls Clinic, is highlighted by Abortion Docs for how she is known as the “fly-in abortionista” and was believed to have been present during a botched abortion at the facility in 2011.
West Virginia
Abortionist Rodney Lee Stephens of Women’s Health Center in West Virginia was sued for performing a forced abortion with anesthesia on Itai Gravely, and then leaving the baby’s head inside of her. Operation Rescue also highlighted that patients were admitted weekly to the hospital in West Virginia from botched abortions.