Abortion clinics will now be required to be licensed by the state. State health officials announced they are adopting the rules.
Abortion clinics would need to meet several license requirements and be inspected every year by the state health department. Hospitals, OBGYN offices and surgical centers are not subject to the rules.
The rules are wide-ranging. Clinics have specifically taken issue with rules that require a physician to serve as a medical director and building requirements that would put smaller clinics out of compliance.
In response, the state health department says it may waive building requirements and says those rules will be enforced for new clinics. The department also said that requiring a physician to serve as a medical director does not limit advanced nurse practitioners from providing abortion care.
Helen Weems is an advanced nurse practitioner who runs All Families Healthcare in Whitefish. In a statement, she said state health officials are attempting to regulate “abortion providers out of existence.” Weems added that she’s already regulated by state and national medical boards.
Weems previously sued the state over the law that required the health department to license abortion clinics. District Court Judge Christopher Abbot said the state could not enforce the law before adopting rules around it. He said the rules themselves would be a question for another day.
Weems says her clinic is weighing legal action.
