A Greensboro Abortion Provider Closes, Leaving Limited Options 

When Jamie Wilcox found out she was pregnant in 2016, she knew she wanted an abortion. She was 40 and already had a 13-year-old child. She was grieving the death of her father and couldn’t handle the stress of adding to her family.

“I knew immediately when the test came up positive,” Wilcox said.

She searched the Internet for abortion clinics near her and eventually made her way to A Woman’s Choice, which has been operating in Greensboro for the last two decades.

“I called them and had an appointment less than a week later,” Wilcox said. “I went in and went out. It was really simple.”

On March 26, A Woman’s Choice announced it is closing its Greensboro clinic at the end of this month and is no longer taking new appointments. Amber Gavin, the clinic’s vice president of advocacy and operations, said a combination of a “hostile political environment” and a lack of financial resources contributed to the decision to close.

The clinic is now directing people to its location in Danville, Virginia, 45 miles away. A Woman’s Choice also has locations in Charlotte, Raleigh, and Jacksonville, Florida.

“We’re relocating resources from this clinic to other clinics,” Gavin said.

For patients like Wilcox, it came as a shock.

“It broke my heart for the community,” Wilcox said. “It pisses me off for the next 40-year-old that doesn’t want the next child.”

Across the country, 12 abortion clinics closed between March 2024 and the end of 2025, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research organization focused on reproductive health. That represented 2% of the total number of clinics, and those closures can be detrimental to the people they served, said Kimya Forouzan, Guttmacher’s principal state policy adviser.

“There are already so many obstacles to people accessing care,” Forouzan said. “One point of access being cut off can have reverberating effects.”

Abortion access has become increasingly limited in the South, especially after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling giving women the right to an abortion, in 2022. As other states have dramatically lowered the period of time that abortion is legal—or outright banned it—more patients are traveling to North Carolina to receive care. 

Patients from South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and as far away as Alabama and Texas now come here for abortions, according to Guttmacher.

“Access has become very regional,” Forouzan said. “I think whenever a clinic closes, it’s not just going to impact the people in that state but also impact people in other states.”

A Woman’s Choice in Greensboro was one of 15 clinics—now 14 after its closure—providing surgical abortions in North Carolina. In Greensboro, it was the only one. 

Reproductive rights advocates and providers are now looking to fill the gap in an increasingly divided political landscape.

“It is a challenging moment in many, many regards,” said Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, which has eight clinics in North Carolina—the most of any provider in the state—including one location each in Greensboro and Winston-Salem. “But I want people to rest assured that we are here, abortion is available, that if people need our help, no matter what, we’re here for them.”

‘Taking Away That Choice’

There are two main types of abortion: medication and surgical. Medication abortion uses the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy. A surgical abortion uses suction to empty the uterus.

In North Carolina, there are 17 abortion clinics now that A Woman’s Choice has closed. Fourteen offer both options; the other three offer only medication. In the Triad, the Planned Parenthood in Winston-Salem is now the only clinic offering surgical abortions. The Planned Parenthood on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro only provides medication, which it began offering in 2024.

Which procedure is used often comes down to patient preference, said Lauren Overman and Kirstin Cassell, both volunteer escorts for patients at A Woman’s Choice. Escorts walk patients from their cars to the clinic and shield them from anti-abortion protesters who often congregate outside.

“Medication abortion is fantastic and lifesaving, but it’s not for everyone,” Overman said. “A medication abortion is a physically arduous process.”

Side effects can include gastrointestinal issues, and if patients are on some other types of medications—like blood thinners, for example—it isn’t an option.

“It’s taking away that choice,” Cassell said. “It’s really going to limit what people can access.”

Patients who need or prefer surgery will now have to travel outside of the city. Still, Johnson said she wants patients to know there are options.

“We’re gonna do everything we can to help Greensboro residents access abortion in the Triad,” Johnson said. “We are here to make sure that people get the care that they need.”

But the closure of a centrally located clinic will likely have ripple effects.

“The number of people and the need around care doesn’t decrease,” Forouzan said. “It just gets shifted. That means longer wait times.”

Data collected by Guttmacher shows the number of abortions across the country increased slightly between 2024 and 2025. The same was true for North Carolina. 

The closure of A Woman’s Choice in Greensboro will put more pressure on other clinics, said Gavin, which are already facing intense political backlash against abortion access.

“Anti-abortion lawmakers have been systematically targeting clinics, and, unfortunately, we are the latest casualty,” Gavin said.

In 2023, the Republican-majority General Assembly passed a 12-week abortion ban and added new requirements for providers, including mandatory ultrasounds and counseling sessions. Abortions after 12 weeks are only allowed in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergencies; in these instances, abortions can be performed up to the point when a clinician determines that the fetus could survive outside the uterus, which is generally considered to be 20-24 weeks.

The law requires patients to wait 72 hours after the mandatory counseling session to receive an abortion. These restrictions can cause staffing issues and require more employees at clinics, Gavin said.

“The law requires three in-person visits for medication abortion,” she said. “That’s more staffing, more days. We’re not actually getting paid for that.”

Overman fears the closure of the Greensboro clinic will cause confusion within the community.

“This has been a staple in our community for 30 years,” she said. “There will be people’s care that is delayed, deferred, or denied because they will be figuring out why the clinic is not answering the phone.”

North Carolina law restricts insurance coverage for abortion that is purchased on the state marketplace or offered by public employers. Those who have private insurance could have procedures covered, depending on their plan. The Hyde Amendment bans federal funds from being used to provide abortions, including Medicare and Medicaid, making it more costly for both patients and providers.

“It keeps abortion care othered and separate from all other forms of healthcare,” Overman said.

While Overman understands the difficulties abortion clinics face, she believes the lack of independent clinics versus chain ones like A Woman’s Choice can result in the prioritization of profit over patients.

“Because this landscape is so difficult to navigate, we see so few true independent abortion providers,” Overman said. “We see more providers that are chain clinics that are basically running large corporations under the premise that providing abortion care will be profitable because they have a captive patient population because there are so few options.”

A Charged Moment

Last year, Republicans in the state House introduced legislation that would stop any state funding to Planned Parenthood. Because President Trump already removed Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program nationwide, this bill had no additional immediate impact.

“It is our duty to ensure that your hard-earned tax dollars are spent thoughtfully and do not support partisan actors like Planned Parenthood,” Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Republican, said. “For years, we’ve chipped away at unnecessary funding Planned Parenthood received from the state, but thanks to President Trump, we now can cut them off completely.”

The bill has been stuck in committee since September.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Democrat representing Guilford County, says the state provided funding for reproductive health care until about 20 years ago. Harrison said she’s sad to hear the Greensboro clinic is closing, as it provides all kinds of health care—not just abortion.

“They do checkups, Pap smears, they check for cancer,” Harrison said. “It’s important health care for women, and we should be funding these.”

Meanwhile, the legislature has for years funded so-called crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, which are explicitly anti-abortion. Many are religiously affiliated and market themselves as offering free ultrasounds and other resources. State funding to these centers has increased from $300,000 a year to more than $12 million in the last few years. There are more than 60 of these centers in North Carolina, including one in Greensboro.

When Wilcox sought out an abortion a decade ago, the first option that popped up online was The Pregnancy Network—formerly known as the Greensboro Pregnancy Center—a CPC that has been operating in the city since 1985.

Wilcox asked about scheduling an appointment and if the abortion would be done the same day.

“They kept saying, ‘We will go through your options,’” Wilcox said. “That’s when the red flags went off, and I hung up on them.”

As a state lawmaker, Harrison said it’s frustrating to see funding for CPCs increase while abortion care is left to fund itself.

“I just think it’s very frustrating that we will fund those that do the opposite of medical care because they give out bad information and don’t fund the health care of someone in need,” Harrison said.

For Dustin Wilson, Triad city director of the religious nonprofit Love Life, ending abortions is a calling. The Charlotte-based group has branches across the country, including in Greensboro. On weekends, dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of Love Life protesters pray and protest outside of abortion clinics. Over the years, they regularly showed up on Saturday mornings at A Woman’s Choice in Greensboro, lining the sidewalks and singing in the neighboring parking lot.

“We’re definitely trying to persuade them to choose life,” Wilson said. “God wants them to choose life.”

Now that A Woman’s Choice in Greensboro is closing, Wilson said they may head to the Planned Parenthood in Winston-Salem, the closest clinic offering procedural abortions. He also hinted at heading to A Woman’s Choice in Danville.

“We’re definitely not going to sit idle,” he said. 

‘We Are Going to Outlast’

When Wilcox got an abortion at A Woman’s Choice 10 years ago, she and her husband shared one car. Making a trip outside of Greensboro would have proven much more difficult.

Patients traveling farther for care is something the Carolina Abortion Fund sees when clinics close.

“We will see an increase in practical support we send out, whether that’s gas money, rideshare money, aftercare support, childcare, meal support, or lodging,” said Khacey C., director of client services at the Carolina Abortion Fund. (As part of the organization’s policy in response to safety concerns, employees do not disclose their last names.) 

With gas prices rising, they will need more funding, she said.

More people are also turning to telehealth or virtual appointments for care. In the first half of 2025, about 18% of total abortions in North Carolina were provided via telehealth, according to the Society of Family Planning, a nonprofit organization specializing in abortion and contraception science. (In recent years, many states, including North Carolina, have enacted “shield laws” to protect clinicians who provide abortion medication to patients in restricted states.)

As of right now, the Planned Parenthood in Greensboro said it is not planning on introducing surgical abortions due to a lack of space. But Johnson said the organization is working to help patients through its navigation program, which helps find clinics and acquire funds if needed.

Camille A., who also works for the Carolina Abortion Fund, acknowledged the difficulties patients face but doesn’t think it’s going to be like this forever.

“This clinic closure points to where we are in history,” she said. “What I really want people to hold on to is that we have memories of times where we were able to get what we needed, and as long as we continue to fight, we are going to outlast this period.”

Harrison, who has been in the General Assembly since 2005, said things may be shifting politically as well.

“There’s a potential to flip the House and the Senate in this election,” she said. “Not only are we going to pick up a lot of seats, in the primary we had candidates who prevailed who will vote on the right side of this issue.”

Surveys show that a majority of U.S. adults continue to support legal abortion. About 60% of people said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in January. Those numbers track closely with the percentage of North Carolinians who say abortion should be legal in most cases.

Even as A Woman’s Choice closes, Greensboro’s volunteer escorts say they’re not going anywhere. On April 12, the group held a public meeting to discuss their next steps and recommit to reproductive justice in the region.

Wilcox, who started volunteering at A Woman’s Choice years after her own abortion, said she’s grateful it was there for her when she needed it. She plans to keep fighting for abortion access.

“I don’t know what the next iteration of clinic escort defense looks like, but there will be another one because our community is too strong,” Wilcox said. “We’ve got too many people who are going to make a difference in this world. There are too many things that need to be changed for us to be done.”