Anne Banfield left West Virginia in early 2022 and is now an OB-GYN in Maryland. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for NPR hide caption When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, states scrambled to enact their own legal policies to regulate abortion, and a patchwork pattern emerged across the country.
While some states protected and even expanded abortion rights and access, others severely curtailed it — like West Virginia. “West Virginia has always had areas that have been deserts in other forms of health care,” says Dr. Anne Banfield, an OB-GYN who provides abortion services and left the state in early 2022.
“And so those women really, in that state, or anyone who needs full-service reproductive care, often have to travel vast distances, creating these deserts, as we call them, where services just aren't available.” Now, Banfield is concerned about what the 2024 election could bring, and what new changes or restrictions could come. “I was, I guess, very naive,” Banfield told NPR about her mindset for years before leaving West Virginia.
“It never crossed my mind then that I would ever live in a post- Roe world.” When the Dobbs decision prevailed, West Virginia’s state legislature acted quickly to make abortion illegal with very few exceptions. The story in neighboring Maryland was different.
Sensing that Roe was in danger, Maryland state legislators introduced a number of bills in early 2022 to protect abortion rights. One bill that passed will be up fo.