老澳门开奖结果 and Women鈥檚 Health Center of West Virginia Sue to Ensure Abortion Is Accessible
CHARLESTON, W.Va. 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of West Virginia, and the law firm of WilmerHale took emergency legal action today on behalf of the Women鈥檚 Health Center of West Virginia and its patients to prevent the state from using the guise of the COVID-19 crisis to prevent people from obtaining abortion care.
This litigation brings the number of states in which abortion clinics have had to sue to ensure abortion access can continue during the COVID-19 crisis to nine, joining Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Texas. Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology have that abortion is a time-sensitive, essential medical procedure that cannot be delayed.
鈥淕overnment response to the spread of COVID-19 must be grounded in science and public health, not politics,鈥� said Talcott Camp, deputy director, 老澳门开奖结果 Reproductive Freedom Project. 鈥淎s leading medical experts have recognized, abortion is essential, time-sensitive health care and West Virginia鈥檚 attempts to prevent patients from accessing abortion care do nothing to protect people from the virus. It just stops people from getting this essential care.鈥�
鈥淲e need officials who are 100 percent focused on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping people safe from it,鈥� said Joseph Cohen, executive director, 老澳门开奖结果 of West Virginia. 鈥淚nstead, our state is cynically exploiting this crisis to push a radical political agenda. It鈥檚 unconscionable and it鈥檚 dangerous.鈥�
鈥淎s health care professionals, we put our patient鈥檚 health and safety first, and we are committed to doing everything we can to protect them, our staff, and our community while providing access to essential health care,鈥� said Katie Quinonez, executive director, Women鈥檚 Health Center of West Virginia, the plaintiff in the case. 鈥淓ven during a pandemic, pregnant people require health care 鈥� whether it is abortion care or prenatal care and childbirth services 鈥� and that care cannot be delayed until after the crisis is over.鈥�
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