ND abortion clinic raises $700k, plans to remain open as it shifts abortion services across the river

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade means that soon, there won’t be any more legal abortions performed in North Dakota. But North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic plans to remain open.

In the days since Roe v. Wade was overturned, a number of donors have made it possible for the state’s only abortion clinic to continue its services.

The Red River Women’s Clinic is moving locations to Moorhead, just across the border in Minnesota.

“We’re so fortunate that we are right next door to the politically protected state of Minnesota, and obviously, we wouldn’t be where we are right now in looking at opening this facility in Moorhead if Minnesota wasn’t right there,” said Tammi Kromenaker, owner and clinic director of Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, North Dakota.

The move is made possible by a GoFundMe page which, as of Monday afternoon, has garnered more than $700,000 in donations, a significantly higher amount than their original goal of $20,000.

“I think that what has happened is what we already knew: the vast majority of both North Dakotans and Americans do not believe that abortion should be a right that’s taken away or that should go to the states, and I think that people may have thought this day was a day that would never come, and now that it’s here and it’s a reality, people are putting themselves forward in any way or shape that they can,” said Kromenaker.

As donations continue to pour in for the clinic, March for Life organizers in Bismarck are discussing their next moves.

“We have been planning to march in January regardless, and this year, we get to march with very great joy and we get to go forward and march for really being able to spread that love and communicate that love even further. So, we definitely will be marching in January,” said McKenzie McCoy, executive director of North Dakota Right to Life.

McCoy also said that now ND Right to Life can turn its attention to improving resources for women who will now complete their pregnancies because of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Kromenaker says she believes abortion will once again be protected on the federal level, even if it takes a while. Because of that, she plans to use the money raised from the GoFundMe in part to keep the clinic’s Fargo location open as it moves its abortion services across the river to Moorhead. She said she doesn’t expect there to be a lapse in care when North Dakota’s trigger law banning abortion goes into effect.