Lovering Health Center faces cuts amid bid to save abortion rights in NH, nationally

GREENLAND — In 1984, the same day she weaved through a crowd of 30 protesters and had an abortion at the clinic, Brigit Ordway signed on to become a volunteer patient escort at the Feminist Health Center in Portsmouth.

The clinic later moved to Greenland and was renamed the Joan G. Lovering Health Center, becoming Ordway’s professional home for nearly four decades.

Ordway retired Friday after 38 years working for the Lovering center in multiple roles, ending her career as the clinic’s outreach and development coordinator. Her departure, however, was less of a long-planned send-off and more of a financial necessity for the clinic. A lack of state funding has forced budget cuts.

Lovering staff gathered Friday morning to discuss challenges with the funding shortfall and with fighting efforts to ban abortion in New Hampshire and across America.

In three separate votes, held in September, December and January, the Republican-majority New Hampshire Executive Council rejected state contracts with family planning providers, including the Lovering Health Center. Numerous councilors raised concerns public money was being used to fund abortion procedures, despite being told that was not the case by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. Lovering’s contract for this year was cut, which Executive Director Sandi Denoncour said slashed the center's budget 20%.

“We can’t afford to keep me here anymore,” Ordway said. “I’m not doing a clinical position. We don't have any outreach money.”

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Ordway and other Lovering leaders spoke directly Friday to Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, who with the rest of the state’s congressional delegation criticized each Executive Council vote rejecting the contracts the last several months.

Inside the clinic, decorated with colorful paintings depicting the female reproductive system, a photograph of Rosie the Riveter and a candle with late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on it, Hassan spoke about the necessity for health services that Lovering provides.

Facing a reelection battle in November, Hassan spoke as numerous abortion restriction laws are being implemented in states across the country, in addition to a recently leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court indicating Roe v. Wade could be overturned.

Regarding women’s reproductive health, Hassan said, “The fundamental principle here is that politicians and the government should not be inserting themselves.”

The Lovering Health Center provides abortions via both in-clinic procedures and through the “abortion pill,” a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol.

According to the clinic, the in-clinic procedure can be performed up until gestation reaches 14 weeks and six days, while the medication abortion can be performed until gestation hits 9 weeks and six days.

Both fall well short of the state’s abortion restrictions outlawing abortion past 24 weeks gestation, except in pregnancies threatening a mother’s life or health. Tucked into the state’s budget bill, Sununu signed the restrictions into law and they took effect at the start of 2022. On Friday, Sununu signed a bill adding an exception for fetal fatal anomalies.

More: Exception added to New Hampshire's 24-week abortion ban with Sununu signature

Lovering provides wellness exams, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, birth control, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and more. Yet the concern from Executive Council members over state funds commingling with abortion services led to the center’s decision to cut Ordway’s position.

“It was horrible,” Denoncour said about cutting Ordway’s position.

Title X funding a waiting game

Lovering was a subrecipient of federal Title X funding for a decade, though it withdrew during the Trump administration years while still receiving state funding, according to Denoncour. When the family planning contracts were denied, Denoncour quickly applied to become a direct recipient of Title X funding, the clinic’s first direct federal application.

While approved, a current lack of funds in the Title X program means Lovering is not yet receiving federal funds. The clinic’s application is being held onto for a year, so if any funding becomes available in that period, Lovering would be eligible to receive it.

For now, Lovering’s potential funding from the federal level is a waiting game. “Which is why what Sen. Hassan and other folks are doing is so important,” Denoncour said. “They’re trying to get more Title X federal funds allocated so that all of these contracts that were approved … can get funded.”

Hassan pledged to “keep fighting” for the Title X funding.

“I really just am very, very, deeply grateful for the work that you do and for the care that you provide to so many people throughout New Hampshire,” Hassan told the clinic’s staff. “But as a Seacoast resident myself, I’m particularly grateful to all of you for the help provided to my friends and neighbors.”

Denoncour, who became the clinic’s executive director last August, and her team emphasized Lovering’s services have not changed despite the budget cuts.

“We have not changed our service delivery. We’re committed to and we’re so appreciative of the community for their support to help us do that, but it is becoming harder and harder every month in this environment.” she said.

What Lovering center is hearing from patients

Lovering staff shared anecdotes about the urgency people are feeling surrounding future access to abortion and reproductive health care.

Some worried patients have called the center to have their long-acting reversible contraception replaced, staff said. One patient called Lovering in December, confused about whether New Hampshire’s abortion restrictions were an all-out statewide ban.

Denoncour told Hassan the clinic has focused on continuous messaging about what’s legal in the state and around the country as New Hampshire’s abortion restrictions took effect and the future of Roe v. Wade is in doubt.

As three anti-abortion advocates stood in protest outside the front of the clinic, Denoncour spoke about the center's day-to-day work while navigating state and societal obstacles.

“We’re in it for important reasons, it’s never been easy, but our resilience is getting stretched everyday,” Denoncour said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Lovering Health Center faces cuts amid bid to save abortion rights