City’s Last Abortion Clinic May Close
The last abortion clinic in the city, Capital Care Network of Toledo, could be forced to close its doors within the month, which would make Toledo the largest city in the state without a provider.
Since it is not a full-service medical facility, the Ohio Department of Health requires Capital Care to have a transfer agreement with a hospital in case of complications from an abortion procedure, but Capital Care’s transfer agreement with the University of Toledo Medical Center expired July 31.
Capital Care cannot renew its transfer agreement with UTMC, the former Medical College of Ohio, because of provisions in Ohio’s most recent budget that bar publicly-funded hospitals such as UTMC from entering into transfer agreements with abortion clinics.
According to Tessie Pollock, health department spokesman, Capital Care has yet to provide the health department with a valid transfer pact from a different hospital. The department has proposed revoking Capital Care’s health-care facility license. Toledo’s other abortion clinic, Center for Choice, closed in June for similar reasons.