Brookline's Women's Health Services May Be Forced To Close

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline's Women's Health Services is at a crossroads. After nearly 30 years in town providing family planning services and abortions, it may be forced to close because it unexpectedly lost a significant grant.

"WHS will have to close within the next three months if we do not receive sustaining donor support," reads a GoFundMe page set up in effort to help save the clinic.

Many of the patients who come to the clinic are uninsured, under-insured, can't afford costly care at hospitals and require hospital level care.

" Our out-of-pocket procedures are revenue neutral, and almost half of our patients fall into this category," according to the crowd funding page. "We also serve patients who are on MassHealth (Medicaid) which reimburses us a rate less than 50% of the cost of care. In an effort to fully serve our community, at least two-thirds of the necessary procedures we provide break even or operate at a financial loss."

The clinic's mission is to bring high quality care to all women, regardless of their ability to pay.

This comes at a time when a number of non-profit independent clinics (that don't have ties to Planned Parenthood) are going through hard times.

According to a report by the Abortion Care Network (a national association for independent abortion care providers) the number of independent abortion clinics has fallen steadily since 2012. During the past two years alone, 39 independent abortion clinics closed. Anti-choice laws across the country are making it increasingly difficult for clinics to operate.

"2019 saw states either double down on imposing abortion restrictions or shore up protectionsfor access. In the 2018-2019 legislative session, over 250 abortion restrictions were introduced.Dozens of states passed abortion restrictions, with several states passing near-total abortion bans that are currently being challenged in the court system," according to the network's report.

As of Monday more than 350 people had donated some $37,000 to keep the doors open.

Previously:

Woman Punches Abortion Protester Outside Brookline Clinic

Brookline Clinic Shooting: 25 Years Later

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).