NEW NASHVILLE CLINIC SEEKS TO ‘DE-STIGMATIZE’ ABORTION
With locations already in the greater Washington, D.C. area, Chicago and Atlanta, a healthcare company that wraps itself in outspoken support of abortion today opened a new facility in Nashville.
Carafem’s marketing slogan embraces its no-nonsense approach: “Abortion. Yeah, we do that.”
Chief Operating Officer Melissa Grant told the Associated Press challenges including the recent fetal-heartbeat bill have presented roadblocks to women seeking abortion in Tennessee, “We of course believe the choice is simple – it’s healthcare,” she said. “We need to be there for them.”
After Planned Parenthood briefly stopped performing abortions in Nashville last year, Carafem’s Atlanta location saw a temporary spike in clients. That came on the heels of the abrupt closure of The Women’s Center when its building was sold, leaving Planned Parenthood as the area’s only abortion provider. In January, women coming to the Atlanta Carafem location traveled an average of 250 miles.
That spelled business – and dollar signs – for Grant. Carafem touts its $600 medical abortions, with a “typical” appointment lasting about an hour. She said the facility may offer surgical abortions in the future.
In 2017, the Tennessee Department of Health Services said, approximately 8,600 abortions were performed in the state; that figure is down from 14,250 in 2008.