A Woman’s Choice of Danville, Virginia opened its doors to patients in February 2024. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, several abortion bans have taken place, especially in the southeast causing a significant number of patients being forced to travel hundreds of miles for abortion services in neighboring states. Kelly Flynn, President/CEO of A Woman’s Choice, saw the need for more clinics in nearby states with less restrictive laws. Our Danville, VA clinic is only 40 minutes from our Greensboro, NC clinic and the access to abortion care differs drastically on each side of the state line. North Carolina has a 12.6 week limit on abortions. In comparison, our Virginia clinic can provide services through 20 weeks, and NC has the longest state-mandated waiting period in the country at 72 hours. In Danville, we could provide abortion care on the same day as someone making their appointment.
(On the map green indicates the states that patients traveled from to receive abortion care at AWCD in July 2024)
Following the federal overturn of Roe, which put reproductive health laws back into the hands of individual states, strict bans have been imposed to limit access to abortion. These limitations have resulted in many women needing to travel anywhere from 8-12 hours away, to us, for care. As a newer clinic, A Woman’s Choice of Danville has had to quickly adapt to handle this increased patient load while maintaining the quality of care we are known for. It has been a challenging, yet rewarding, experience.
The staff at A Woman’s Choice of Danville says that there has been a mostly positive reception to an abortion clinic being opened in our little community. While many of our patients travel from far away, we do see local patients who are past the legal gestation for NC, and it makes us incredibly thankful that we are here to help them where they otherwise may not have had care. It genuinely feels that we are making a positive impact on the community.
As 2024 is an election year, it is so, SO important to give a reminder to vote in November for those who believe reproductive care is a personal decision and should remain so without government interference. We must stay vigilant and fight for bodily autonomy in addition to overturning the bans restricting our sister clinics.
In the meantime, A Woman’s Choice of Danville is proud to step up and do whatever we can to ensure this lifesaving, reproductive healthcare is available to anyone who may need it, no matter how near or far.
