The only abortion clinic in North Dakota is now preparing to move across state lines following the recent Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade.
Red River Women’s Clinic, located in Fargo, has been the only provider in the state for 20 years.
They now await closure, which will leave many women in the state without care.
Clinic Director Tammi Kromenaker told CNN Saturday they are still open, for now. “The plan is to provide service as long as we legally can,” Kromenaker said.
North Dakota is one of many states that have trigger laws on the books aimed to ban abortion now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned. The law will go into effect 30 days after it is certified by the state’s attorney general.
Attorney General Drew Wrigley’s Office is still “evaluating the Dobbs opinion in every detail and will give careful consideration to its impact on North Dakota’s abortion laws,” according to a June 24 statement.
Once this happens, the plan for the clinic is to move across state lines to Moorhead, Minnesota, according to Kromenaker.
The space for the new clinic is located just across the Red River, about 15 minutes from its current location.
Kromenaker said there is a lot of work that still needs to be done, but an ally started a GoFundMe to help the clinic collect funds for the new location.
The clinic will relocate to a new facility in Moorhead, Minnesota, just 15 minutes away.
As of Saturday afternoon, more than $ 500K has been donated, surpassing their goal. “It’s beyond humbling and heartening to know that there’s that level of support,” Kromenaker said.
Friday was supposed to be a regular day, but when news broke everything changed for Kromenaker and her staff.
“I saw the news on my computer and one of the staff members screamed, we cried and became very angry,” Kromenaker said.
Coincidentally, phone lines then started ringing with patients calling to make appointments.
A photo from May shows both protesters and patient escorts in rainbow-colored vests outside of Red River Women’s Clinic.
“I had to pull myself together and set up these appointments,” Kromenaker said. “It was a surreal, ironic moment.”
Kromenaker says over the past few months they’ve already had an influx of patients from South Dakota and Minnesota due to facility closures and staffing issues.
“The decision was devastating but to see this level of support come in reaffirms for me what I already knew, that the vast majority of people support abortions,” Kromenaker said.
For states like Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Dakota, trigger bans have already gone into effect.
