The young woman rushes into the entrance of the greyish building. A man, cap screwed on his head and blue jeans, suddenly harangues her: “Your son is a beautiful child. It’s not too late ! » It’s Wednesday in Fargo, North Dakota, and it’s abortion day at the Women’s Clinic, the only facility in the state to perform abortions.
This July 6, from 9 a.m., twenty-four women, aged 17 to 42, will enter the establishment, protected by about fifteen volunteers in colorful T-shirts, the clinic escortsto defy the anti-abortions. “Our job is to accompany them safely to the establishment. They yell at them, make them feel guilty”, says 61-year-old retired Kay Schwarzball, who has been coming every Wednesday for years. Some old signs are supposed to protect the place: “The doormat is private property”, “It is a federal crime to block the entrance to this building”. The anonymity of women is violated around this clinic located in the heart of the gentrified city center. “The city center has nothing to do with what it was when we opened twenty-four years ago. There were no bars and no one was walking in the street”Explain Tammy Kromenaker50, the director of the clinic, who sees a change in the profile of the protesters: “They now look like the Capitol rioters of January 6. Before, they were old people. »
Moving necessary
With the Supreme Court ruling removing the federal right to abortion, the center will cross the bridge over the Red River and set up shop opposite, in Moorhead, Minnesota, a neighboring state where abortion is not is not threatened. “Abortion will soon be illegal in North Dakota”, summarizes the director. It will probably be July 28, even if the entry into force of the law can be delayed by some legal remedies. There will remain a few authorized cases, during rape or incest, “but we cannot keep our doors open only for these cases”.
The decision to change states was made in the fall of 2021, when Texas banned abortions beyond six weeks. “In light of what was happening in Texas, it was obvious that we had to move”, continues Tammy Kromenaker. North Dakota had a law in the works, passed a decade ago but which remained a dead letter after being challenged. Its entry into force will cause the only clinic present in this agricultural state, as vast as a third of France, to leave. “There is only one clinic needed, we are only 750,000” tempers Mme Kromenaker. The State prohibits the assumption of responsibility for the abortion, which costs 700 dollars, by the insurances, but a help of 350 dollars can be brought. The three female doctors come in turn from Colorado and Minnesota. With the seven nurses, they can easily switch to the Moorhead clinic: “They all have a license to practice in Minnesota”says M.me cromenaker.
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