#5for5: A Conversation with Katie Quinonez
This blog post was written by our intern, Rose, as a part of our #5for5 project. For the next five days, we’re highlighting the five U.S. states with only one abortion clinic state-wide: Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia. We’ll be sharing information about abortion care in each state and how to support the clinics delivering critical healthcare.
We encourage you to share our content with friends, family, and your communities to spread the word about these clinics keeping abortion accessible and safe amidst countless legislative attacks on abortion.
I had the honor of interviewing Katie Quinonez, the Executive Director of Women’s Health Center of West Virginia. Currently, this Center is the only abortion clinic in all of West Virginia, meaning they are the sole provider of reproductive health services in the entire state.
Women’s Health Center, founded in 1976, offers a full range of health services to meet the needs of the many people they serve. The clinic is a vocal advocate for reproductive justice, working to address the many stigmas surrounding abortion in West Virginia.
Like many states, West Virginia has adopted countless restrictions surrounding abortion. People seeking abortions must undergo a 24-hour waiting period, and minors must receive parental consent in order to have an abortion. Additionally, abortions are only given public funding in the most dire of cases, such as if the fetus has severe defects, if there is a clear medical emergency, or if the pregnancy was a result of incest or rape, and only if the assault was reported to law enforcement. These are just a few of the many barriers to safe, affordable abortions in West Virginia.
Here is my conversation with Katie:
Rose: So, my first question is, who are the people your clinic serves and where do they travel from?
Katie: We primarily serve West Virginians as we're the only abortion provider in the state of West Virginia, and we see a little over a thousand abortion patients annually. But we do see a fair amount of patients from Kentucky and Ohio because our clinic is still geographically the closest clinic to people in Southern Ohio and Eastern Kentucky.
In addition to providing abortion care, we also provide a full range of gynecological wellness services, including birth control, STI testing and treatment, breast cancer screening, and cervical cancer screening. We serve a lot of uninsured people on a sliding scale, and we also see a lot of Medicaid insured people. So we see quite a few low-income patients. Combined with our abortion care and all of the gynecological care that we provide, we serve over 2,000 patients annually.
infographic showing the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia
Rose: That’s amazing. How do you deal with those in your community who are firmly against abortion rights? Do they interfere with your day-to-day ability to give care?
Katie: We do, unfortunately, face it at multiple levels, from the protestors who stand on the sidewalk with their terrible signs and shout hurtful and hateful things at our patients and staff, to the legislators in our state who perpetuate myths about abortion and pass restrictions that are not based on any type of medical recommendation or scientific evidence. One of the ways that we've had to respond to anti-abortion protestor activity is we've started a clinic escort program, so that patients know when they're coming to the clinic to look for the bright pink vests and they know we will help get them safely in the building regardless of what those people say.
In terms of other people in the community like legislators, I think it's really important to meet them with facts, because unfortunately, a lot of legislators think that people having abortions are not sure about their decision to have an abortion. And that is very far from the truth. People are the experts in their own lives and they know what's best for themselves. When they choose abortion, that's a very thoughtful decision and we want to make sure that they're able to get the care that they need.
One of the things that we're doing this year is to start sharing people's abortion stories. We are asking people to submit their stories so we can share those widely with our community, because people's beliefs and actions don't exist in a vacuum. They have real-world consequences. So, whenever you say something negative about people who have abortions, you know that these are the people who you're affecting, and these are the people who you are speaking about.
Rose: That’s such an important point that you make. What do you think is the hardest part of working at Women's Health Center?
Katie: The hardest part, that's a good question. I guess the hardest part would be the unnecessary legislative restrictions that are placed on abortion access and on abortion care. Patients’ appointments are being delayed for 24 hours, and they're being forced to listen to the prepared phone counselings that try to convince them not to have an abortion. And having to explain that to our patients who we care so much about and want them to get the care that they need without delay, that can be really hard. Our staff can definitely feel burnout and compassion fatigue with wanting to do this good work and do very patient-centered care, but then the law tells us that we have to read scripts that lie to them and delay their care for no reason or make their care harder to access. So that can be really emotionally draining when you're up against so much and are working so hard and keep getting these legislative curve balls thrown at you.
An abortion story shared by the West Virginia Women’s Health Center
Rose: Yeah. Wow. I had no idea about the scripts. That's ridiculous.
Katie: Yeah. We have a lot of restrictions on abortion here in West Virginia. And that one is ironically called the "Women's Right to Know Act." We have to have one of our staff call each patient at least 24 hours before their procedure and read them this script. They just updated that script to include abortion pill reversal language. So now we literally have to lie to our patients and tell them it might be possible to reverse their medication abortion, even though that's not medically supported or scientifically proven.
Rose: I cannot even imagine. I guess my next question might be a little bit more uplifting. What is your favorite part of working at Women's Health Center?
Katie: For sure the people that I work with. That was a very easy answer. The reason that I wanted to come work at the clinic in the first place was because of the people who took care of me when I was a patient there, and I'll remember that day forever. Just how nice they were to me in the procedure room. You always remember the person who holds your hand. The people here show up every day to fight all of these stupid battles in order to take care of people and provide them with the care that they want and need. And they still show up with humor and with grace and compassion and just work so hard. I admire literally everyone that I work with.
Rose: I love that. Why did you choose to work at this clinic?
Katie: I chose to work specifically at this clinic because I had an abortion at Women's Health Center when I was 22, and I was really struck by the level of compassion and care that I received. While I was pursuing my master's, I was looking for a full-time job and saw that they were hiring for a development director, which my background is in fundraising and development. And I said to myself, that would be my dream job because I'm very passionate about this work. I've had two abortions in my life and the second one was at Women's Health Center. It had such a profound effect on me, and I am the person that I am because of the care that I was able to receive. I want to do everything in my power to make sure that people who want abortion care can receive it.
Rose: That's incredible. Thank you for sharing that with me. What are the similarities and differences between bigger clinics like Planned Parenthood, and smaller local clinics? Do they serve different people? Do they offer different services?
Katie: Yeah. I will say in terms of the difference of services, independent clinics like Women's Health Center are providing the majority of abortion care in the country. 60% of abortions that happen in the United States are provided at independent clinics like Women's Health Center. Not only that, but we also provide on average abortion care up to a higher gestation than Planned Parenthoods do. A lot of Planned Parenthoods are medication abortion only sites, which medication abortion is great, of course, and I think that there should be more sites like that. But we are typically the ones who are providing more procedural abortion and abortion at a higher gestation, which is important because when a person has had to delay their care and they need a second trimester procedure or something later, they're likely struggling financially. They're in the greatest need of resources.
Another big difference between being an independent site like ours and a nationally affiliated clinic like Planned Parenthood is that we don't have that national name recognition. Whenever there is a really big attack on abortion like there was in June Medical Services v. Russo or like there is going to be with the challenge to Roe this fall, it's very likely Planned Parenthood that's going to be receiving the donations and the support from people, even though they certainly have more financial resources than we do. And we're very community based. We were founded in the communities that we serve, and we are very closely knit with our communities and really know them quite intimately.
Image from @womenshealthwv. An illustration of a hand holding a sign that reads “Our vision for abortion care is more than saving roe. *Roe is the Supreme Court Ruling that made abortion legal. Legal is not enough. #BelieveInMore”
Rose: Yeah, that's great. Thank you. So Uterish is an organization based in Seattle, and obviously Seattle has a lot less restrictions on abortion, we have more open and available clinics, and we just generally have greater abortion access. I feel very fortunate to be in a community where reproductive rights are widely accepted and supported, so with that, what can we do as Seattleites to support your clinic and your entire state?
Katie: Something you can do to support our clinic is donate. We are a nonprofit independent clinic and we provide a lot of uncompensated care to people who are uninsured and can't afford their care. Donations are critical to us supporting our operations, paying our staff, paying our bills, and keeping our doors open. In terms of something that you can do to help our state, frankly just highlighting the fact that like, look at what the restrictions are in West Virginia and juxtapose that with what the restrictions are in Washington and see that this is the majority of the country, unfortunately. These restrictions have been unfairly placed in places where a minority of people in this country support abortion restriction. We’ve seen over the past year with polling being done that the vast majority of Americans support abortion access and think people should be able to access this care. So yeah, I think just lifting up our work that we do, lifting up what's going on in West Virginia, so that people are aware of our work and will support it.
Rose: That's great. We Seattleites need to be doing all we can to support communities like yours and the amazing work that you have been doing. Well, thank you so much for answering these questions and being so authentic with me. I really, really appreciate it. I'm just in awe of everything that you've been able to accomplish. It's truly amazing.
The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia can be found at https://www.womenshealthwv.org/, and you can donate to them here.