Ohio City’s Last Abortion Clinic Will Stay Open

The Last abortion clinic in Toledo, Ohio was facing a bleak picture of the future. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled to uphold a 2014 ruling which shut down Capital Care Network because of the requirement that abortion clinics must have transferring privileges with a “local” hospital and that state funded public institutions could not work with abortion clinics. Originally the University of Toledo Medical Center provided this partnership but was legally barred from doing so because of their public funding. Capital Care Network then created a partnership with a hospital across the Michigan state line but this violated the “local” part of the mandate (although Toledo is less than 10 miles from the Michigan border).

The clinic reached out for help and asked their local hospital to grant them transfer privileges. St. Luke’s Hospital recieved pressure from anti abortion advocates, but also had an overwhelming outcry from people who called on the hospital to help Captial Care Network stay open and provide abortion care.

Well known feminist and activist Gloria Steinem spoke about the need for the clinic (in her hometown of Toledo) and urged St. Likes to help. She said:

“We must not allow a political regulatory scheme to close Toledo’s remaining abortion clinic… Its absence would not diminish the number of abortions but would increase the injury and death of women in my home city and state. Democracy begins with each person’s control of his or her own body. Without reproductive freedom, there is no democracy for America women.”

The outpour support worked and on Monday, St Lukes authorized a patient-transfer agreement with Capital Care Network. The news came just in time to file paperwork with the Ohio Department of Health to stop license-revocation proceedings. This is a huge win in the fight for abortion access!

 

To read more about the hospital’s decision, click HERE