City Expands Medication Abortion Access in Brooklyn After Clinics Close

The city is expanding medication abortion services in Brooklyn in the wake of recent clinic closures and the ongoing contraction of reproductive care nationally. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will offer free and low-cost abortions at its sexual health clinic in Fort Greene, the fourth city-run site to provide the service, the agency announced on Wednesday. This development is significant as the site also provides birth control, counseling, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Addressing National Trends and Local Healthcare Needs

The expansion at the clinics, which primarily serve uninsured Black and Latino residents in high-poverty neighborhoods, comes as states around the country restrict access to abortions in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Furthermore, the city has become a destination for out-of-state residents seeking abortions after states began banning or severely restricting access to care. A quarter of those callers to city services were from out of state, mostly from Texas, Florida and Georgia, all of which have imposed strict abortion laws.

Impact of Recent Reproductive Clinic Closures

The announcement on Wednesday comes months after two other reproductive care clinics in Brooklyn run by Public Health Solutions, a Tribeca-based nonprofit that contracts with the city, closed their doors. Those clinics, one in Fort Greene housed in the same building as the Health Department site, and the other in Brownsville, provided emergency contraceptives, prenatal care, STI testing and abortion. The nonprofit cited financial pressures, including a decline in overall patient volumes and an increase in uninsured patients, as the reason for the closures, which led to dozens of employees being laid off.

Operational Data and Program Reach

The city has been ramping up reproductive health services since it first began providing abortions at its Morrisania clinic in 2023. Since then, the three sites that have offered them – in Jamaica, Central Harlem and Morrisania – have served more than 2,300 patients seeking abortions, most of whom are Black or Latino and uninsured. To support this mission, the following resources have been allocated:

• Annual budget for abortion services at the clinic: $1.8 million
• Abortion Access Hub budget: $580,000
• Total Abortion Access Hub reach (first two years): Over 8,500 individuals

Community Healthcare Network and Patient Experience

Community Healthcare Network works hard to provide excellent care to patients. Our Patient Experience Star Rating reflects the results from the 2023 CAHPS Survey, a standardized questionnaire sent to a random group of verified patients and distributed by a third-party vendor, forHealth Consulting. The survey evaluates the quality of services and care that patients received throughout the entirety of their visits.

Accessibility and Transportation

For communication, we support English & Spanish. For more than 150 other languages we use our Language Line, a live telephone translation service. Patients can reach the Jamaica facility via the following routes:

• Bus: Take the Q25, Q34, or Q65 to Parsons Blvd/89 Av. Alternatively, take the Q6, Q8, Q9, or Q41 to Jamaica Av./160 St.
• Train: Take the E train to Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer. Alternatively, take the F to Parsons Blvd.