Bristol, an American city of approximately 44,000 inhabitants, is divided by the border between Virginia and Tennessee, which cuts the main street in two. Although they share many aspects, there is one central difference between the states: Abortion has been illegal in Tennessee since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that allowed states to legislate on the issue. So the city’s only abortion clinic, Bristol Women’s Health, moved less than a mile away to Virginia, where the procedure is legal. But legality did not prevent new obstacles to the operation of the clinic.
- “Abortion Travelers”: 171,000 people traveled to the United States to have a procedure in another state
- Context: The United States authorizes the first contraceptive pill without a prescription, a year after the end of the right to abortion
According to a report from the British network BBC, pro-abortion activists say the pressure is constant.
“It’s like a game of whack-a-mole,” Barbara Schwartz, co-founder of the State Line Abortion Access Partnership (SLAAP), which helps people traveling to Virginia for abortions, told the BBC. — As soon as one approach fails, the anti-abortion group shows up in Bristol and tries again.
The clinic now faces legal action over an eviction notice issued in April 2024 by the property’s owners. The hearing was scheduled for Dec. 22, and an unfavorable ruling would force the clinic to look for another location. There is still no information on the outcome.
The Family Foundation, an anti-abortion group, says the clinic’s existence goes against city zoning rules, which prohibit the use of buildings that could endanger lives.
—Why wouldn’t this extend to unborn life? — asked Victoria Cobb, director of the organization.
See the photos: US Supreme Court overturns abortion rights, sparks street reactions
Conservatives celebrated the setback and pro-choice activists protested the historic decision.
The owners of the venue, according to the BBC, say they are opposed to abortion and claim they were misled about the clinic’s activities, an argument rejected by the court in 2023. The judge understood that the provision of abortion services was easily identifiable in a simple online search.
“Had (the landlords) conducted a simple Internet search of their tenants, as any reasonably prudent landlord would likely do, they would have discovered that the clinic did indeed provide abortion services, as clearly stated on its website,” Judge Sage Johnson wrote.
According to support organizations, the departure of the Bristol clinic would represent a significant impact on access to abortion in the region. After the Supreme Court repealed it in 2022, 155,000 people crossed state lines to undergo the procedure, with more than 9,200 heading to Virginia alone, according to the Guttmacher Institute (GI).
“Bristol’s location means the clinic is the closest place, within hours, for millions of people in the south of the country to receive a safe and legal abortion,” the organization says.
Since the repeal of the constitutional right to abortion, states are free to legislate on the issue, and around twenty of them have banned or restricted the termination of pregnancies.
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