Divided between two states, the town at the heart of America’s abortion debate

The town of Bristol, USA, with a population of approximately 44,000, is a divided community.

The state line, which divides Virginia and Tennessee, literally runs down Main Street. While both parties have a lot in common, there is one big difference: Abortion is illegal in Tennessee. That has been the case since a 2022 Supreme Court decision that gave the power to legalize abortion to individual states rather than the federal government, triggering 12 states to enact nearly complete bans.

So the city’s only abortion clinic, Bristol Women’s Health, moved less than a mile to continue operating legally in Virginia.

But just because abortion is legal in Virginia doesn’t mean the fight for access to abortion is over.

“This is like whack-a-mole,” said Barbara Schwartz, co-founder of SLAAP, the State Line Abortion Access Partnership. At the Bristol Women’s Health Clinic, they help people who travel to Virginia to get abortions.

“If one approach doesn’t work, the anti-abortion crowd shows up in Bristol and tries another.”

On December 22, Bristol Circuit Court will hear the clinic’s lawsuit challenging an eviction notice served by its landlords, brothers Chase and Chadwick King, in April 2024.

The clinic’s lawyers argue that the clinic has the right to renew its lease for a total of six more years. However, if the judge rules in favor of the building owners, the clinic will have to find a new home.

This isn’t the first time homeowners have attempted to evict the clinic from their property. While the siblings claim the clinic fraudulently concealed the fact that they performed abortions, they claim they are “firmly opposed” to it. The case was dismissed in September last year when Judge Sage Johnson ruled:

“If [the landlords] If they had done a simple internet search on their tenants, as any reasonably prudent landlord would likely do, they would have discovered that the clinic was in fact providing abortion services as clearly stated on their website.”

Clinic owner Diana Derzis, who declined to comment on the hearing, previously said she hoped to keep the clinic in the city even if they were evacuated. But other suitable facilities are scarce in Bristol, Virginia, he said.

The clinic’s departure from Bristol would be a “blow” to abortion access, according to Barbara Schwartz, co-founder of SLAAP, the State Line Abortion Access Partnership.

Since the overruling of Roe v Wade, states where abortion is legal have become destinations for out-of-state abortion seekers, according to the Guttmacher Institute (GI); Last year, 155,000 people crossed state borders.

The organization also found that more than 9,200 people traveled to Virginia alone to have the procedure last year.

“Bristol’s location means the clinic is the closest place for millions of southerners to get a safe and legal abortion within hours.”

Victoria Cobb, director of the anti-abortion lobbyist Family Foundation, also says Bristol’s location puts it “at the epicenter of the debate.”

Ms. Cobb launched the first of several efforts to restrict abortion in Bristol using local ordinances. The tactic is used by anti-abortion campaigners in states that allow abortion. The logic is simple: If you can’t win on Capitol Hill, why not fight at City Hall?

“Locals don’t want to see their town become an abortion center,” says Ms. Cobb. “We are happy to help them.”

The Family Foundation has argued in the past that the clinic’s existence violates zoning regulations that prohibit buildings from being used in ways that endanger life.

“Why wouldn’t this extend to unborn life?” asked Mrs. Cobb.

Their regulations said new clinics should not be allowed to open in Bristol and expansion of existing clinics should be prevented.

Similar rules have been used to restrict abortions in other parts of the United States, including nearby Washington and Russell counties. But Prof Laura Hermer, an expert on abortion regulations in the US, says these efforts are largely “virtue signaling”.

“I would be surprised if most of these towns had any health care providers, let alone abortion,” he said.

The debate heated up in Bristol after the council agreed to look into the issue.

“This has been more stressful than dealing with parking. This hasn’t been something that’s come to the local level before,” the city’s planning director Jay Detrick told the BBC.

Ultimately, the city’s attorney determined that imposing restrictions on a medical facility was not within their purview.

Shortly after the city decided not to intervene, another group decided to close the clinic; This was led by Texas pastor Mark Lee Dickson.

The pastor lobbied councils across the United States to implement the law. Comstock ActA 152-year-old federal law prohibits sending or receiving through the mail materials that could induce abortion.

Ninety-three local authorities have passed ordinances to enforce the Comstock Act, even closing a Planned Parenthood clinic in Lubbock, Texas.

Pastor Dickson is hopeful that the ordinance he introduced in Bristol will produce the same result. It has not yet been considered by the Council but remains optimistic.

“Just because the local government proposes or rejects such a measure does not in any way mean that the initiative is dead,” he told the BBC.

SLAAP co-founder Kimberly Smith envisions other campaigns as well. Anti-abortion activists targeted Bristol because of its unconventional political structure, he says:

“They’re coming here because we were the red part of a blue state. If they erode it, it weakens the entire framework of state rights.”

Pastor Dickson told the BBC that even if the clinic wins the case this week and stays in place, its opponents are determined.

“As long as the screams of unborn babies in Bristol are silenced there will be an attempt to force the City Council to fulfill its obligation to protect unborn Bristolians.”