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New abortion clinic opening in Maryland, just across from deeply-conservative West Virginia

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A new abortion provider is opening this year in Democratic-controlled Maryland — just across from deeply conservative West Virginia, where state lawmakers recently passed a near-total abortion ban.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland, roughly 5 miles from West Virginia, will open its doors in June — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections — to provide abortions to patients across central Appalachia, a region clinic operators say is an “abortion desert.”

“Hours in any direction, there are no other abortion providers here — it’s smack dab in the middle of an absolute abortion desert, and that’s by design,” said Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s lone abortion clinic until it was forced to stop the procedures after legislators in September passed a ban with narrow exemptions.

The Cumberland clinic will be the only independent reproductive health care center in the area and the western-most provider of surgical and medical abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy in Maryland. Quiñonez, who will also serve as the Maryland clinic’s executive director, said the facility will be a more accessible option for patients in northern West Virginia, western Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, and Ohio, where an abortion ban is under injunction.

Independent abortion clinics provide most abortions in the U.S. — especially for people with low-incomes who live in isolated, rural states hostile to abortion access. The clinics are more likely to offer abortion after the first trimester and to provide both surgical and medication abortion options, according to the Abortion Care Network, the national association for independent abortion care providers.

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Dozens of independent clinics across the country have been forced to close their doors since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and in 14 states, there are no abortion clinics at all.

At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions since the decision, according the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The number of clinics providing abortions in those 15 states dropped from 79 to 13 by October of last year, with the remaining clinics in Georgia.

When West Virginia lawmakers passed their sweeping abortion ban, several members of the Republican majority said they hoped it would force the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to shut down. Republican Sen. Robert Karnes said he believed shuttering the center was “going to save a lot of babies.” Brandon Steele, a Republican in the state’s House of Delegates, called abortion access “a scar” and “a curse” lawmakers had to “remove from this land.”

The waiting room of the Women's Health Center of West Virginia sits empty on June 29, 2022. A new abortion provider, the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, is opening this year in the Democratic state.

The waiting room of the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia sits empty on June 29, 2022. A new abortion provider, the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, is opening this year in the Democratic state. (AP Photo/Leah Willingham, File)

West Virginia patients seeking an abortion now have to take time off work, travel hundreds of miles and pay for lodging and other accommodations, “all to get basic health care,” Quiñonez said.

“Our communities deserve better — people should be able to access abortion care without delay or barriers,” she said.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will provide abortion services into the second trimester and will accept Maryland Medicaid, which covers abortion. It will also offer annual exams, contraception, testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings.

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Although no abortions can be provided there, West Virginia’s clinic is still open and offers other reproductive health care and hard-to-find services, like gender-affirming hormone therapy. But Quiñonez said they still get calls from anxious patients who don’t know where to go for an abortion. Until the Maryland clinic opens and can take referrals, her staff has no other option but to send callers to a website to find out-of-state services.

Since January 2022, the clinic’s abortion fund has distributed $150,000 for more than 800 people, mostly West Virginia residents.

Maryland has a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that has shown commitment to preserving abortion access. Abortion is legal in Maryland until about 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The nearest independent reproductive health clinic to Cumberland that provides abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy is a Planned Parenthood 90 miles away in Frederick. That facility provides medication abortion only.

A closer clinic in Hagerstown is open for abortions during limited hours a few times a month. It provides first-trimester abortions only and doesn’t accept Maryland Medicaid — a barrier to low-income patients, Quiñonez said. Otherwise, patients must travel more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) to Pittsburgh or even further, to Baltimore or Washington, D.C.

Renovations started last week on the Cumberland clinic — crews were installing new medical equipment and signage, deep cleaning, applying fresh paint, replacing floors and patching drywall.

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The cost for the facility, licensing and renovations is roughly $1.17 million. First-year operating costs — to include payroll, building operations — are projected to be around $763,000. Both the West Virginia and Maryland clinics are funded by donations, foundations and organizations in support of expanding abortion access in the U.S.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will have its own finances and, eventually, state-based board of directors. The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia’s directors will act as the board while the organization recruits new, locally-based members.

“Folks have always needed abortions — since the beginning of time,” Quiñonez said. “And they will always need abortions until the end of time. We are going to keep fighting to get every patient the care they need.”

New Maryland abortion provider to open near West Virginia in post-Roe “abortion desert”

by www.cbsnews.com Leave a Comment

A new abortion provider will be opening this year in Democratic-controlled Maryland — just across from conservative West Virginia, where state lawmakers recently passed a near-total abortion ban .

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland, about 5 miles from West Virginia, will open its doors in June — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections — to provide abortions to patients across central Appalachia, a region clinic operators say is an “abortion desert.”

“Hours in any direction, there are no other abortion providers here — it’s smack dab in the middle of an absolute abortion desert, and that’s by design,” said Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s lone abortion clinic until it was forced to stop the procedures after legislators in September passed a ban with narrow exemptions.

The Cumberland clinic will be the only independent reproductive health care center in the area and the western-most provider of surgical and medical abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy in Maryland. Quiñonez, who will also serve as the Maryland clinic’s executive director, said the facility will be a more accessible option for patients in northern West Virginia, western Maryland, south central Pennsylvania and Ohio, where an abortion ban is under injunction.

Independent abortion clinics provide most abortions in the U.S. — especially for people with low-incomes who live in isolated, rural states that restrict or ban abortions. The clinics are more likely to offer abortion after the first trimester and to provide both surgical and medication abortion options, according to the Abortion Care Network, the national association for independent abortion care providers.

Dozens of independent clinics across the country have been forced to close their doors since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade , and in 14 states, there are no abortion clinics at all.

At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions since the decision, according the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The number of clinics providing abortions in those 15 states dropped from 79 to 13 by October of last year, with the remaining clinics in Georgia.

When West Virginia lawmakers passed their sweeping abortion ban, several members of the Republican majority said they hoped it would force the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to shut down. Republican Sen. Robert Karnes said he believed shuttering the center was “going to save a lot of babies.” Brandon Steele, a Republican in the state’s House of Delegates, called abortion access “a scar” and “a curse” lawmakers had to “remove from this land.”

West Virginia patients seeking an abortion now have to take time off work, travel hundreds of miles and pay for lodging and other accommodations, “all to get basic health care,” Quiñonez said.

“Our communities deserve better — people should be able to access abortion care without delay or barriers,” she said.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will provide abortion services into the second trimester and will accept Maryland Medicaid, which covers abortion. It will also offer annual exams, contraception, testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings.

Although no abortions can be provided there, West Virginia’s clinic is still open and offers other reproductive health care and hard-to-find services, like gender-affirming hormone therapy. But Quiñonez said they still get calls from anxious patients who don’t know where to go for an abortion. Until the Maryland clinic opens and can take referrals, her staff has no other option but to send callers to a website to find out-of-state services.

Since January 2022, the clinic’s abortion fund has distributed $150,000 for more than 800 people, mostly West Virginia residents.

Maryland has a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that has shown commitment to preserving abortion access. Abortion is legal in Maryland until about 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The nearest independent reproductive health clinic to Cumberland that provides abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy is a Planned Parenthood 90 miles (145 kilometers) away in Frederick. That facility provides medication abortion only.

A closer clinic in Hagerstown is open for abortions during limited hours a few times a month. It provides first-trimester abortions only but does not accept Maryland Medicaid — a barrier to low-income patients, Quiñonez said. Otherwise, patients must travel more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) to Pittsburgh or even further, to Baltimore or Washington, D.C.

Renovations started last week on the Cumberland clinic — crews were installing new medical equipment and signage, deep cleaning, applying fresh paint, replacing floors and patching drywall.

The cost for the facility, licensing and renovations is roughly $1.17 million. First-year operating costs — to include payroll, building operations — are projected to be around $763,000. Both the West Virginia and Maryland clinics are funded by donations, foundations and organizations in support of expanding abortion access in the U.S.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will have its own finances and, eventually, state-based board of directors. The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia’s directors will act as the board while the organization recruits new, locally-based members.

“Folks have always needed abortions — since the beginning of time,” Quiñonez said. “And they will always need abortions until the end of time. We are going to keep fighting to get every patient the care they need.”

New Maryland clinic opening in post-Roe ‘abortion desert’

by www.independent.co.uk Leave a Comment

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A new abortion provider is opening this year in Democratic-controlled Maryland — just across from deeply conservative West Virginia, where state lawmakers recently passed a near-total abortion ban.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland in Cumberland, roughly 5 miles (8 kilometers) from West Virginia, will open its doors in June — a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections — to provide abortions to patients across central Appalachia , a region clinic operators say is an “abortion desert.”

“Hours in any direction, there are no other abortion providers here — it’s smack dab in the middle of an absolute abortion desert, and that’s by design,” said Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, the state’s lone abortion clinic until it was forced to stop the procedures after legislators in September passed a ban with narrow exemptions.

The Cumberland clinic will be the only independent reproductive health care center in the area and the western-most provider of surgical and medical abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy in Maryland. Quiñonez, who will also serve as the Maryland clinic’s executive director, said the facility will be a more accessible option for patients in northern West Virginia, western Maryland, south central Pennsylvania and Ohio, where an abortion ban is under injunction.

Independent abortion clinics provide most abortions in the U.S. — especially for people with low-incomes who live in isolated, rural states hostile to abortion access. The clinics are more likely to offer abortion after the first trimester and to provide both surgical and medication abortion options, according to the Abortion Care Network, the national association for independent abortion care providers.

Dozens of independent clinics across the country have been forced to close their doors since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and in 14 states, there are no abortion clinics at all.

At least 66 clinics in 15 states have stopped providing abortions since the decision, according the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. The number of clinics providing abortions in those 15 states dropped from 79 to 13 by October of last year, with the remaining clinics in Georgia.

When West Virginia lawmakers passed their sweeping abortion ban, several members of the Republican majority said they hoped it would force the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia to shut down. Republican Sen. Robert Karnes said he believed shuttering the center was “going to save a lot of babies.” Brandon Steele, a Republican in the state’s House of Delegates, called abortion access “a scar” and “a curse” lawmakers had to “remove from this land.”

West Virginia patients seeking an abortion now have to take time off work, travel hundreds of miles and pay for lodging and other accommodations, “all to get basic health care,” Quiñonez said.

“Our communities deserve better — people should be able to access abortion care without delay or barriers,” she said.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will provide abortion services into the second trimester and will accept Maryland Medicaid, which covers abortion. It will also offer annual exams, contraception, testing and treatment for sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as breast and cervical cancer screenings.

Although no abortions can be provided there, West Virginia’s clinic is still open and offers other reproductive health care and hard-to-find services, like gender-affirming hormone therapy. But Quiñonez said they still get calls from anxious patients who don’t know where to go for an abortion. Until the Maryland clinic opens and can take referrals, her staff has no other option but to send callers to a website to find out-of-state services.

Since January 2022, the clinic’s abortion fund has distributed $150,000 for more than 800 people, mostly West Virginia residents.

Maryland has a Democratic governor and a Democratic-controlled General Assembly that has shown commitment to preserving abortion access. Abortion is legal in Maryland until about 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The nearest independent reproductive health clinic to Cumberland that provides abortion and gender-affirming hormone therapy is a Planned Parenthood 90 miles (145 kilometers) away in Frederick. That facility provides medication abortion only.

A closer clinic in Hagerstown is open for abortions during limited hours a few times a month. It provides first-trimester abortions only and doesn’t accept Maryland Medicaid — a barrier to low-income patients, Quiñonez said. Otherwise, patients must travel more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) to Pittsburg or even further, to Baltimore or Washington, D.C.

Renovations started last week on the Cumberland clinic — crews were installing new medical equipment and signage, deep cleaning, applying fresh paint, replacing floors and patching drywall.

The cost for the facility, licensing and renovations is roughly $1.17 million. First-year operating costs — to include payroll, building operations — are projected to be around $763,000. Both the West Virginia and Maryland clinics are funded by donations, foundations and organizations in support of expanding abortion access in the U.S.

The Women’s Health Center of Maryland will have its own finances and, eventually, state-based board of directors. The Women’s Health Center of West Virginia’s directors will act as the board while the organization recruits new, locally-based members.

“Folks have always needed abortions — since the beginning of time,” Quiñonez said. “And they will always need abortions until the end of time. We are going to keep fighting to get every patient the care they need.”

New Debt MF Norms: AMCs open subscription for international schemes

by economictimes.indiatimes.com Leave a Comment

Synopsis

The existing Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) and Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) will reopen from March 29 onwards. However, fresh SIP and STP will not be allowed.

New Delhi: Several asset management companies ( AMCs ) have opened up subscription for international schemes to maximise inflows ahead of new taxation rules for debt mutual funds kicking in from April 1. The fund houses that resumed their international schemes are — Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund and Edelweiss Mutual Fund.

Edelweiss Mutual has opened its all seven international funds for subscription from this Monday. It has started accepting switch-in or lumpsum transactions in these schemes.

“We had some limits, so we thought of letting investors take benefit of taxation by investing before March 31,” Niranjan Awasthi, Head – Product, Marketing and Digital Business at Edelweiss AMC told PTI.

Mirae Asset has opened subscription in a lump sum manner for three international ETFs and three Fund of Fund (FoF) based on these ETFs from March 27 onwards.

The existing Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) and Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) will reopen from March 29 onwards. However, fresh SIP and STP will not be allowed.

“Since we have limited room available to take fresh inflows, these funds are likely to get closed again in future for subscription, in order to comply with the current regulatory limit and applicable guidelines for the overseas funds,” Siddharth Srivastava, Head – ETF Product & Fund Manager at Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) Pvt Ltd said.

In case of ETFs, investors can transact on exchange in any quantity or in multiple of basket size with the AMC directly and in the case of FoFs, investors can use multiple avenues like lump sum or switch-ins to take exposure in the underlying ETFs, he added.

Capital markets regulator Sebi in June 2022 permitted mutual funds to again invest in foreign stocks within the aggregate mandated limit of USD 7 billion for the industry. In January last year, the regulator asked fund houses to stop taking fresh subscriptions in schemes investing in overseas stocks.

In addition, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund has begun accepting fresh or lump sum investment in its three overseas schemes.

Experts believe that investors subscribing to these international schemes before March 31, will be eligible for the indexation benefit. Moreover, they are suggesting investors to subscribe to debt funds, international funds and gold funds to get indexation benefits.

“One caveat for existing investors through this news flow remains, that of existing investments in debt funds, international funds and gold funds, and even new investments made in them until March 31, 2023, will not be affected by the proposed amendments,” Axis Mutual Fund said in a note on Friday.

The move by AMCs came after the Ministry of Finance on Thursday amended Finance Bill 2023, that classified income from debt mutual funds as a short-term capital gain. The new norms are set to kick in from April 1, 2023.

Under the new rule, investment in debt mutual funds that are bought on or after April 1, 2023, will be taxed as short-term capital gains at applicable tax rates.

That is, capital gains from debt funds, international funds and gold exchange traded funds (ETFs), irrespective of their holding period, will be taxed at an individual’s relevant applicable tax rate.

Debt mutual funds held for more than three years will no longer enjoy indexation benefits and additionally, existing LTCG (Long-Term Capital Gain) benefits will continue for investments made on or before March 31, 2023.

Indexation takes into account the inflation during the holding period of a mutual fund unit and consequently increases the purchase price of the asset and this reduces the tax.

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Who is he? The mystery of the Native American statue behind the State Capitol

by www.theadvocate.com Leave a Comment

Kaw-Liga comes to mind, though that’s not the name of the Native American man sitting between the two staircases descending to Capitol Lake Drive from the Louisiana State Capitol back parking lot.

Kaw-Liga was the name of the wooden cigar store American Indian in Hank Williams’ 1953 classic song. Whereas Williams’ Kaw-Liga was made of pine, and, no pun intended, pined after a wooden maiden standing across the street, the capitol’s Native American sculpture is alone, with a direct view of Capitol Lake.

Which poses the question: Who is the Native American carved in stone, designed as a fountain behind the Louisiana State Capitol building? And, why is he there? Is he supposed to represent Louisiana’s Native American nations or is he a specific personality?

That’s the mystery. Most people never notice the Native American figure when entering the capitol. In all fairness, he’s easy to miss in his cubby.

He sits cross-legged, flanked by two cranes, seemingly at peace with his back turned to the political wheeling and dealing inside the building behind him.

He’s a complete contrast to Loredo Taft’s mammoth sculptures, “Pioneers” and “The Patriots” agonizing on either side of the front steps leading to the front entrance.

But Taft didn’t sculpt the Native American. Credit for this lone artwork goes to Maurice Heullant. Look closely below the man’s right toes jutting out from beneath his left knee, and you’ll see Heullant’s signature, “M. Heullant.”

The artist included no date, and information on his sculpture’s installation is limited. So questions linger: Who commissioned this piece? When was it installed, and even more importantly, why?

Elise Grenier, owner of Grenier Conservation in Baton Rouge, helped in this investigation, first referencing Vincent Kubly’s 1995 book, “The Louisiana Capitol: Its Art and Architecture.” The book takes a thorough look at all of the capitol’s artworks and the artists who created them.

Well, almost all.

“There was nothing in there about the Native American sculpture,” Grenier said. “And I’m wondering if that back part of the capitol was added later.”

So, she contacted architect Perry Sims, senior manager for the Louisiana Office of Facility Planning & Control, who put her in touch with Project Manager Matt Baker, who referenced the original blueprint drawings for the capitol.

The staircases and cubby were, indeed, included in the original plans, but the space was empty, serving only as a fountain when the capitol building opened its doors in 1932.

Jacques Berry made the same discovery. He’s the policy and communication director for the state Office of Administration, also is researching the sculpture.

“The sculpture wasn’t there at first, but it was installed not long after that,” he said. “We just can’t find much more than that.”

Yet there is plenty of information out there on Heullant, who was born in 1883 in Paris and later made his home in New Orleans, where he not only was a sculptor but a noted cabinet maker. He died there in 1981.

In fact, the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s archives includes a photo of Heullant receiving an award for “excellence in craftsmanship” — specifically for wood carving — from the American Institute of Architects. The photo has no specific date, but it appears to have been taken in the 1950s or early ’60s.

Another bit of information found in the Times-Picayune mentions Heullant working at at Kohlmaier and Kohlmaier Cabinet Makers, where he taught the younger Ruppert Kohlmaier to make furniture. The business still operates in New Orleans.

But there’s still no mention of the elusive Native American sculpture.

The Tulane University Archives houses Maurice Heullant’s papers in its Louisiana Research Collection, which includes his drawings, designs and blueprints for specific architectural commissions between 1932 and 1966.

The entry for Heullant states that he was active in New Orleans from 1932 to 1978, meaning that his commission for the sculpture came after the capitol’s 1932 opening.

Was the backstairs fountain too much to maintain? Looking upward into the space towering over the sculpture, it’s easy to trace the fountain’s initial design, where the water trickled downward from the top and collected in the shallow basin below.

That basin now serves as the pedestal for the sculpture’s base.

Back to Heullant, the Tulane entry continues, stating that he was “one of five sculptors selected to design the ornamental stone models for New Orleans’ Lapeyre Miltenberger Home in connection with the architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth.”

But the entry’s details are sketchy when it comes to his work in Baton Rouge, saying only that Heullant “was connected to work on the new State Capitol building in Baton Rouge.”

Heullant retired in 1978, and though his personal biography doesn’t answer specific questions about the sculpture, a public art walking tour map produced by the Louisiana Department of Culture Recreation and Tourism offers this short description: “Sculptor M. Heullant completed this limestone piece in 1932, an allegorical figure of a seated man representing Louisiana’s Native American tribes. Two crane-like birds frame his head and shoulders.”

Yet the original plans show that the sculpture wasn’t originally in place in 1932. So, is the description simply an assumption that that this figure represents all of the state’s Native American tribes?

“We’ve checked everywhere,” Berry said. “We called the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, which keeps a record of public art, and they didn’t have anything on the sculpture. We checked with The Historic New Orleans Collection, and they had information on Heullant but not the sculpture.”

Perhaps, the cross-legged Native American is the only one who knows the answers to this mystery, and like Hank Williams’ Kaw-Liga, he isn’t talking.