Former Texas abortion center struggles to stay afloat offering only non-abortion services

For decades, the abortion industry presented itself as a legitimate “women’s health” industry, frequently touting its non-abortion services while downplaying its significant windfall from abortion. But following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, when trigger laws protecting preborn children from abortion went into effect in various states, the lie behind this facade was revealed.

The Texas law made committing abortions in Texas a felony punishable by up to life in prison. As a result, many abortion facilities chose to close their doors. But one facility chose to remain open. 

Austin Women’s Health Center was founded in 1976 by Dr. L.L. “Tad” Davis, the center’s medical director. Dr. Davis committed abortions and offered additional gynecological services out of the South Austin location for nearly five decades. After the trigger law went into effect, the abortion facility ceased performing abortions but remained open. 

According to KUT, former director Julie Smith said the center served approximately 3,000 patients between June 2022 and June 2023, with contraceptives, ultrasounds, miscarriage care, and after-abortion care for women who obtained abortions out of state. In 2021, the center reportedly served around 2,400 patients for non-abortion services, but also saw 3,700 patients seeking abortions.

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Even with a significant increase in patients for non-abortion services, Smith claims that Austin Women’s Health Center has struggled financially after abortion services ended. She created a GoFundMe campaign to benefit the “Davis Global Foundation,” saying, “As the last independent clinic in Austin, we are at a crisis point.”

Smith told KUT, “A lot of our patients that would seek abortion care were self-pay patients. They paid out of pocket for those services. Profits from that helped support our regular gynecological practice, and to provide comprehensive care to patients throughout their reproductive lives.” (emphasis added) In other words, profit made from killing preborn children is what kept them in business.

Smith shared on the GoFundMe page, “Austin Women’s Health Center is a small team with few reserves and we have had to spend thousands on advertising, marketing and staff, to be able to adapt in a hostile and willfully unclear environment.” However, many other women’s health centers in Texas have remained able to provide medical care to their female patients despite no longer committing abortions.

As previously reported by Live Action News, “The Lozier Institute’s Dr. Ingrid Skop, a board-certified OB/GYN who has practiced in Texas for more than 25 years, said, ‘Nothing in the new Texas pro-life law is in conflict with standard medical guidance, nor does it prevent me from providing the same care I have always provided women…’”

Smith is looking to raise $75,000 to help cover overhead expenses and unexpected costs. As of Monday evening, the campaign had raised nearly $34,000.