Virginia's Busiest Abortion Clinic Shuts Its Doors

With the passage of the Texas abortion bill through the state senate, the majority of the state's abortion clinics will close. But Texas isn't the only state that's making moves to shut down abortion clinics. In Virginia, the state's busiest abortion clinic is closing their doors. NOVA Women's Healthcare has performed more abortions than any other clinic in the state, with 3,066 induced terminations of pregnancy performed last year. The clinic had been at their current location since 2006.

While it was the city government that mandated the closing of the clinic, it wasn't for reasons you might expect: The city of Fairfax denied clinic owners a permit to relocate to a new office, one that could be equipped with hospital-level facilities, and provide patients with adequate parking. However, the Fairfax City Council now mandates that clinics fall under medical care facilities, which requires special permits and approval from the council, conditions that were not in place before.

This closure does not only affect abortions. Thousands of women went to the NOVA clinic for birth control and other elements of health care — things they could not have afforded without clinics like NOVA.