At a City Council meeting earlier this week, Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon said the city has seen some advances but also some hurdles in its efforts to make abortion and other women’s health services accessible.
Two years ago, Alexandria’s City Council adopted a resolution asking the City Manager to consider proposals ensuring “accessibility of reproductive health services, safe abortion services, accessible maternal and child health services for low-income Alexandria residents.”
Beyond just safeguards against future legal challenges, women’s healthcare providers also face challenges from harassment. One Alexandria woman was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release for blocking the entrance to a D.C. abortion clinic.
Parajon said one of the biggest successes for protecting access to women’s health services was a zoning change last April that brought zoning requirements for abortion clinics in line with other medical facilities.
“We did pass changes to ordinance that allowed abortion services as permitted uses in every commercial and mixed use zone,” Parajon said.
Parajon said the city also launched a pair of websites — one devoted to information about reproductive health and another about women’s health in general — both of which have seen significant web traffic.
But Parajon said other ideas for protecting abortion access stalled. One potential zoning change would have created a “buffer zone” to protect clinics from harassment at their doorstep, but Parajon said this would have faced legal challenges.
“[We looked] at land use policies and procedures to ensure clinic protection,” Parajon said. “There was some interest in a buffer zone ordinance, but our attorney’s office indicated that would have been challenged from a legal perspective. We’ll continue to monitor federal and state measures that may impact this area.”
