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The Times podcast: Texas abortion law makes this Kansas clinic busier than ever

A person wearing scrubs and gloves disinfects an examining room
Trust Women Wichita clinic staff member Lindsay Mills disinfects an examining room. The abortion clinic is seeing more patients from out of state.
(Fernando Salazar / For The Times)
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Trust Women Wichita is a clinic in Kansas that has long been a lightning rod in the abortion wars. Its former director, George Tiller, was assassinated in 2009 by an antiabortion extremist, and the clinic closed for years because of that.

Since it reopened in 2013, the clinic slowly became known as a place for people from across the Midwest and South who want to end their pregnancies and must travel hundreds of miles. Now, with Texas passing one of the most sweeping antiabortion laws in the country, Trust Women Wichita is busier than ever.

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Today, L.A. Times Houston bureau chief Molly Hennessy-Fiske takes us to this abortion clinic. She talks to women who came from far away to get an abortion, staffers who feel their work is more important than ever — and antiabortion activists who are counting on even more restrictive laws to effectively shut down Trust Women Wichita.

Host: Gustavo Arellano

Guest: L.A. Times Houston bureau chief Molly Hennessy-Fiske

More reading:

For many Texans, it’s a long drive out of state for abortion

Op-Ed: What it’s like operating a Texas abortion clinic now

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The new Texas abortion law is becoming a model for other states

About The Times

“The Times” is made by columnist Gustavo Arellano, senior producer Denise Guerra and producers Shannon Lin, Marina Peña, Melissa Kaplan and Ashlea Brown. Our engineer is Mario Diaz. Our editors are Lauren Raab and Shani O. Hilton. Our theme song was composed by Andrew Eapen.
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