Kentucky set to be first US state with no abortion clinic

Last remaining facility poised to close as pro-life Republican governor imposes draconian rules

KENTUCKY could within weeks become the first US state to have no abortion clinics as Republicans push forward with a nationwide campaign to strangle America’s abortion laws with local red tape.

The state’s only remaining clinic, the EMW Women’s Surgical Centre in Louisville, is facing closure after its pro-life Republican governor argued it did not have the right licensing requirements.

The claim is being fiercely disputed by pro-choice campaigners in court, with fears raised that closing the clinic would force women to use riskier means to get an abortion.

The case has become a lightning rod for concerns about Donald Trump’s approach to women’s rights amid threats to family planning clinics, maternity coverage and the availability of contraception.

If the clinic is closed it would be a major victory for pro-life campaigners who have pushed Republican-controlled state legislatures to force abortion clinics to close by imposing draconian legal requirements.

In a sign of the success of such campaigns, six other US states are also now down to just a single abortion clinic.

The crux of the battle in Kentucky lies between a Republican governor, Matt Bevin, who won office on an “unapologetically pro-life” platform, and the clinic.

Dr Ernest Marshall, one of the clinic’s founders, has argued: “The very right to access legal abortion in the state of Kentucky is on the line”.

Mr Bevin has already shut down one of EMW’S clinics in Lexington, a city in the north of Kentucky, and is now focusing on the clinic in Louisville, the last one in the state.

State regulators want to revoke its licence on health and safety grounds, arguing that it needs stronger agreements with the local hospital in case of complications to continue operating.

Donald Cox, a lawyer for the clinic, believes that tighter licensing agreements are merely a pretext to shut it down, do nothing to improve patient care and are an unconstitutional barrier on women’s rights. “We’ve been doing this for 30 years so to all of a sudden say it’s not safe to have abortions anymore is crazy,” said Mr Cox.

Dona Wells, a campaigner on abortion rights and co-founder of the EMW clinic in Louisville, recalled how bad things were before abortion became legal and fears a return to those days.

“I would take friends to the airport to go to New York to have abortions, which was pretty horrible,” she told The Daily Telegraph. She warned less fortunate women would turn to backstreet practices if they are unable to access facilities close to home.

National campaigners believe Kentucky is not a one-off. Across the country, they see similar trends emerging.

Last March the president signed a bill allowing states to withhold funding from family planning organisations that provide abortion services. That could affect millions of Americans who use the clinics for services such as breast cancer screenings, contraceptives and sexual health checks.

In the year since Mr Trump entered office he has nominated anti-abortion, conservative judges to fill scores of federal court vacancies and made cutting funding to abortion providers one of his first executive orders.

As early as this month a judge will decide whether to keep Kentucky’s last abortion clinic open.

For Mrs Wells forcing closure would be an assault on a woman’s right to have an abortion – whatever the state is arguing. “It may be legal [to have an abortion] but if nobody can open a clinic, if doctors don’t want to do abortions because it’s so difficult, then it doesn’t make any difference,” she said.

‘We’ve been doing this for 30 years so to all of a sudden say it’s not safe to have abortions anymore is crazy’