When Minnesota becomes an anti-abortion state on July 28, the state’s sole abortion facility plans to move there.
The privately managed Red River Women’s Clinic will relocate from Fargo into the nearby city of Moorhead, just across the state line, where abortions are anticipated to stay lawful.
One of thirteen states where legislation known as trigger bans would make abortions illegal when Roe v. Wade is repealed is North Dakota. Drew Wrigley, the attorney general of North Dakota, has today approved the state’s prohibition.
Director Tammi Kromenaker already has a new location in place for the clinic, according to the Star Tribune. She plans to have it up and running in its new home by the time abortions become illegal in North Dakota so that women in the area will have no interruptions in clinic services.
‘The plan is to provide service as long as we legally can,’ Kromenaker told CNN.
This timeline was made plain on Tuesday when the Attorney General certified the legislation that will make abortions illegal in North Dakota just over a month after Roe v. Wade is overturned.
The new law will make getting an abortion a felony, with the exception of situations involving rape, incest, or the mother’s life.
Despite these exclusions, there won’t be any abortion providers in the state, so patients will need to fly.
For having an abortion, women may get a term of up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
When Kromenaker learned that Roe had been overturned, the phone at the clinic rang within 30 seconds, and a young woman with a baby on the other end explained how she had become pregnant again and wasn’t ready for a second child.
‘Here’s this group of people in Washington, D.C., along with this group of people in North Dakota who put the trigger ban in place, and they don’t know the reality of people’s lives who need this,’ said Kromenaker.
‘We’re getting the most devastating news ever, and a person literally calls and says, ‘I need an abortion, I have a kid and can’t handle another one, I just moved here – do you guys do that there?’ I had to pull myself together and make her appointment.’
The Red River clinic has been North Dakota’s exclusive source for abortions for almost 25 years.
Additionally, it offers assistance to women in Northwest Minnesota and adjoining South Dakota.
After the draft ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked in May; the clinic became the scene of pro- and anti-abortion demonstrations in the following weeks. One protest is seen on camera with a guy holding a banner that reads, “Babies are slaughtered here.”
Kromenaker expressed concern about the anti-abortion activists’ behavior now that the supreme court had gone against them.
‘They’re feeling a sense of victory they’ve never felt before. They may feel emboldened. It’s not business as usual,’ she said.
She also expressed optimism that the supreme court decision will rally supporters of women’s abortion rights who previously hadn’t involved themselves.
‘I think in 10 years we’re going to turn this ship around. I have hope this will all be very different in 10 years, and we’ll have federal protections for abortion. But we need people’s help right now.’