New Full-Service Abortion Clinic Opens in Bloomington, Minnesota
On February 24, a new full-service abortion clinic opened its doors to patients. Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota is located in Bloomington near the intersection of 494 and 35W and is less than 15 minutes from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.
The clinic provides first and second-trimester in-clinic abortion procedures to 18 weeks of gestational age and has plans to expand to 24 weeks. Medication abortion care is available up to 11 weeks.
The clinic’s opening brings the number of abortion providers in Minnesota to eight.
Whole Woman’s Health (WWH) of Minnesota is owned by Whole Women’s Health, a privately owned health care organization “committed to providing holistic reproductive health care.” The organization manages nine clinics located in Texas, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, and Minnesota — with virtual services available to patients in New Mexico, Virginia, and Minnesota. The nonprofit Whole Women’s Health Alliance (WWHA) will manage the Bloomington clinic.
“I know it is the exact right time for Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota to step up and ensure that safe abortion care is available, particularly as U.S. states pass a historic number of anti-abortion restrictions and bans,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, President and CEO of WWH and WWHA said in a statement, noting that she is a native Minnesotan.
“Whole Woman’s Health Alliance will do our part to make abortion access in this North Star haven state a reality for Minnesotans and folks from far and wide who may migrate to our state for safe abortion care in the coming months and years.”
WWH and WWHA are at the center of a major lawsuit challenging Texas Senate Bill 8 that has reached the Supreme Court: Whole Woman’s Health, WWHA, et al. v. Jackson.
A Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade, may be released by June 2022. Many experts expect Roe v. Wade to be weakened or overturned. Currently, North Dakota and South Dakota have only one abortion clinic each. If the court overturns Roe v. Wade, North Dakota and South Dakota have “trigger laws,” which will ban abortion outright. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa have a multitude of restrictions on abortion. In Minnesota, there is a mandated 24-hour waiting period and parental notification laws.
“In these times when abortion rights, health, and justice are under attack, Whole Woman’s Health of Minnesota will serve as a safe haven for abortion care,” Sean Mehl, Associate Director of Clinical Services for Whole Woman’s Health, said in a statement. “We will be working with abortion funds and allies all over the South and Midwest to help pregnant people migrate out of their state to get the abortion they need that they’re being denied in the place they call home.”
Whole Woman’s Health of the Twin Cities began in 2012 with the Midwest Health Center for Women and the Meadowbrook Women’s Clinic. After merging the two clinic sites, WWH has operated an independent abortion care practice in Minnesota for the last 10 years. In January of 2022, WWHA acquired Whole Woman’s Health of the Twin Cities. WWHA Board of Directors took over operations “as abortion bans and restrictions continue to be passed at record rates around the country.”
