We support nurse practitioners and increased access to abortion care!
The Center strongly supports the ACLU’s lawsuit to challenge a medically unnecessary abortion restriction that burdens Maine women, especially young women, women of color, and women with low income. The current law singles out abortion as the only health care service advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) are banned from providing, despite their rigorous post-graduate training and extensive clinical experience providing a broad range of comparable services. It prevents many qualified, trained APRNs from providing abortion, leading to a shortage of medical providers of abortion care in our communities.
As Maine’s first publicly available abortion provider, and only provider of the procedure north of Augusta, we know how challenging it can be for women in rural communities to access safe, quality abortion care. If this lawsuit is successful, Mabel Wadsworth Center will be able to greatly expand the availability of abortion care in northern and eastern Maine.
We also know that abortion can be provided safely and effectively by APRNs, including nurse practitioners. Numerous medical authorities ranging from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, to the American Public Health Association, to the World Health Organization have all concluded that laws prohibiting APRNs from providing first-trimester abortion services are medically unfounded.
Mabel’s was founded by and has always been led by and staffed by nurse practitioners. We firmly believe in nurse practitioners’ ability to provide quality, client-centered healthcare. Co-founder Terry Marley DeRosier, certified women’s health nurse practitioner, is celebrating her 20th year of service at Mabel’s this month, and has provided exceptional healthcare in Bangor for more than three decades! Our other provider Lindsey Piper, CWHNP, has more than 15 years of experience in women’s health. She practiced abortion care while working in other states and pursued a nursing career so she could provide abortion care. Both are qualified clinicians that always put the needs of their clients front and center. They are also passionate about ensuring our clients are able to receive abortion care, prenatal care, and other sexual and reproductive health services.
Please join us in celebrating the critical role of nurse practitioners and this proactive case to end a stigmatizing and unnecessary restriction on abortion access in Maine, and potentially open the door for other states to follow.