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up front Saturday 4 March 2023
Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome

Continued from Front ful.Meanwhile, some of the
The proposal on the table, states that have severely
submitted by anti-abortion restricted abortion access
activists, was that they are trying to make it harder
shouldn't. The local pastors for residents to end their
were on hand to spread pregnancies elsewhere.
that message. Employees at the University
"We're trying to figure out of Idaho who refer students
what we do at this point," to a clinic just 8 miles (13
said Koch, who supports kilometers) away in the lib-
abortion rights. "We're just eral-leaning state of Wash-
on our heels all the time." ington could face felony
The conflict is not unique charges under a recently
to this border community, passed state law.
which boasts a spot where Perhaps no other place so
a person can stand in Vir- neatly encapsulates the
ginia and Tennessee at the issue as the twin cities of
same time. Similar disputes Bristol, Virginia, and Bristol,
have broken out across the Tennessee. Before Roe, an
country following the U.S. abortion clinic had oper-
Supreme Court's decision ated for decades in Bris-
to overturn the landmark tol, Tennessee. After Roe,
1973 decision establish- which triggered the Volun-
ing a constitutional right to A temporary signs hangs on the outside of the Bristol Women’s Health Clinic on Thursday, Feb. 23, teer State's strict abortion
abortion. 2023 in Bristol,Va. Associated Press law, the clinic hopped over
As clinics have been the state line into Bristol, Vir-
forced to shutter in Repub- elsewhere — and are pro- Under Roe, the high court one of the country's most ginia.
lican-dominant states with posing changes to zoning had ruled that it was un- liberal abortion access That's when anti-abortion
strict abortion bans, some laws to stop the clinics from constitutional for state or laws, activists in two coun- advocates began push-
have relocated to cities moving in. Since Roe was local lawmakers to create ties and three cities in the ing back. At the request of
and towns just over the overturned, such local or- any "substantial obstacle" eastern part of the state some concerned citizens,
border, in states with more dinances have been iden- to a patient seeking an have successfully sought the socially conservative,
liberal laws. The goal is to tified as a tool for officials abortion. That rule no lon- zoning changes restrict- faith-based Family Foun-
help women avoid travel- to control where patients ger exists. ing the procedure. Demo- dation of Virginia helped
ing long distances. Yet that can get an abortion, ad- While such zoning changes cratic officials have since draft an amendment to
effort does not always go vocates and legal experts are no longer necessary in proposed legislation to ban the city's zoning code that
smoothly: say. Texas, which now has one them from interfering with says, apart from where the
The politics of border towns In Texas, even before Roe of the most restrictive abor- abortion access. existing clinic sits, land can't
and cities don't always was overturned, more than tion laws in the country, In the college town of Car- be used to end a "pre-born
align with those in their 40 towns prohibited abor- Dickson says he and oth- bondale, Illinois, a state human life."
state capitals. They can tion services inside their city ers will continue to pursue where abortion remains "Nobody wants their town
be more socially conserva- limits. That trend, led by an- them in other states with widely accessible, anti- to be known as the place
tive, with residents who ob- ti-abortion activist Mark Lee liberal abortion statutes. abortion activists have where people come to
ject to abortion on moral Dickson, has since success- "We're going to keep on asked zoning officials to take human life. That's just
grounds. fully spread to politically going forward and do ev- block future clinics from not a reputation that the
Anti-abortion activists have conservative towns in Iowa, erything that we can to opening after two already people in Bristol want for
tapped into that senti- Louisiana, New Mexico, Ne- protect life," he said. operate in town. Thus far, their area," said foundation
ment — in Virginia and braska and Ohio. In New Mexico, which has they've been unsuccess- President Victoria Cobb.q

Doctor: Lesion removed from Biden’s

chest was cancerous

By ZEKE MILLER cessfully removed" dur- ings as part of his routine
AP White House Correspo- ing the president's rou- health plan.
dent tine physical on Feb. 16. Basal cells are among the
WASHINGTON (AP) — A skin Biden, 80, was deemed by most common and eas-
lesion removed from Presi- O'Connor to be " healthy, ily treated forms of cancer
dent Joe Biden's chest last vigorous" and "fit " to han- — especially when caught
month was a basal cell car- dle his White House respon- early. O'Connor said they
cinoma — a common form sibilities during that physical don't tend to spread like
of skin cancer — his doctor exam, which comes as he other cancers, but could
said Friday, adding that no is weeks away from launch- grow in size, which is why
further treatment was re- ing an expected bid for re- they are removed. President Joe Biden arrives at Walter Reed National Military
quired. election in 2024. Biden had "several local- Medical Center in Bethesda, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
Associated Press
Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the O'Connor said the site of ized non-melanoma skin
White House doctor who the removal on Biden's cancers" removed from his
has served as Biden's long- chest has "healed nicely" body before he started his the president's health, not- time in the sun during his
time physician, said "all and the president will con- presidency, O'Connor said ing it was well established youth.q
cancerous tissue was suc- tinue regular skin screen- in his Feb. 16 summary of that Biden spent a lot of