Asheville abortion clinic to close Saturday

ASHEVILLE Western North Carolina's only abortion clinic will close its doors Saturday, leaving the area without a provider of abortion services for at least six months until a new clinic is opened.

Dr. Lorraine Cummings, who owns the business and serves as its sole physician, put the building up for sale in March. The clinic opened in 1985 near downtown Asheville, and has been the city's only provider of abortion services for many years.

A spokesperson for Femcare confirmed that the clinic would close Saturday, but declined any further comment.

Planned Parenthood announced plans earlier this year to build a new clinic, originally slotted to open this summer. Melissa Reed, vice president for public affairs of Planned Parenthood Raleigh, said the opening has been delayed, and they now hope to open sometime in December.

Reed said Planned Parenthood has worked closely with Cummings for months on the new clinic's opening, and that the gap in service is "unfortunate."

The closest providers of abortion services are now in Charlotte and Greenville, South Carolina.

Femcare drew national attention last year when state health regulators temporarily shut down the clinic citing safety violations. The closure came in the aftermath of a heated debate in the General Assembly over North Carolina's new abortion law, passed last summer.

The new law directed state Department of Health and Human Services officials to write new regulations, though none have been implemented yet. The recommendations made last year were that abortion clinics would operate under the same standards as those for ambulatory surgical centers. The new law authorizes DHHS to "apply any requirement for the licensure of ambulatory surgical centers" to abortion clinics, while not "unduly restricting access" to abortion.

A report issued by DHHS in April in response to the new laws offered no predictions on when new restrictions might be enacted for abortion providers in North Carolina.

The new Planned Parenthood facility will meet the standards of an outpatient surgical center regardless, Reed said, adding that the organization has purchased land and hopes to begin construction in coming weeks. She declined to give the location of the new facility, but said it will be within the city.

Planned Parenthood's existing Asheville location provides family planning, birth control and other services but does not provide abortions.

The Femcare property was put on the market in March for $1.2 million. Femcare provides women's health services including annual exams, birth control and screenings for sexually transmitted infections.