Amid growing threats to repro rights in Virginia, a local clinic is still trying to expand access

The Virginia Right to Contraception Act and the Contraceptive Equity Act were designed to protect birth control access, but Youngkin’s amendments could undermine their effectiveness.

Dr. Jessica “Lou” Rubino has seen firsthand how a lack of access to contraception can turn into a life-threatening crisis. The medical director of Meadow Reproductive Health & Wellness remembers when one of her patients, unable to afford birth control, faced an unintended pregnancy that put her health at serious risk.

“She had other health conditions, and she ended up needing a procedure in order to stop that pregnancy, in order to save her life, so that she wouldn’t have those consequences,” Rubino said. “The odds of a pregnancy, the safety of a pregnancy, the safety of birth control, all that stuff that’s for each person to decide on their own. But when that choice is taken away from them, things can snowball out of control. From there, people’s health can be put at risk. People can die because of this, just because they don’t have access to birth control.”

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As states continue to roll back reproductive rights, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s latest amendments to contraception-related legislation have heightened concerns about access to essential health care in Virginia. 

Youngkin’s two amendments, revealed on March 24, altered the Virginia Right to Contraception Act and the Contraceptive Equity Act—both of which had passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support. Youngkin’s amendments would eliminate language specifying which types of contraception are covered and how the law would be enforced. They declare that Virginia supports the right to contraception as a matter of public policy, but adds a clause allowing religious exemptions.

The Virginia Right to Contraception Act would have protected the right to birth control, and the Virginia Contraceptive Equity Act would have made birth control easier to afford by requiring insurance to cover it fully. Critics argue that Youngkin’s changes weaken both bills and signal a broader effort to curtail reproductive rights for both individuals seeking contraception and medical professionals providing it.

Rubino said patients at Meadow already face financial and logistical barriers when trying to access birth control. Many struggle to afford the method they want, even if they have insurance, leading to gaps in coverage that increase the risk of unintended pregnancy.

“The thing that happens often is patients will say, ‘Well, I couldn’t afford my next refill,’ and that’s the time when they accidentally get pregnant because they came off their birth control and they’re waiting to get their next pack,” Rubino said. “And none of those things should be things that are based on how much money you have or your ability to pay. They’re health care decisions. Everyone should have access to the same options, and that’s what those bills are trying to do. But if they’re gutted, we’re going to be pretty much where we are now, which is, if you don’t have the money, you’re kind of stuck.”

Jamie Lockhart, executive director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, called Youngkin’s amendments a failure to uphold Virginians’ reproductive freedoms. 

“Governor Glenn Youngkin squandered the opportunity to defend the reproductive freedoms of Virginians, despite widespread support across the Commonwealth for protecting the right to contraception and insurance coverage of contraception,” she said in a press release. “His gutting of two contraception-related bills, and their companions, dismisses the essential role contraception plays—not just in family planning, but as fundamental health care.”

Meadow’s role in expanding access

Meadow Reproductive Health & Wellness, a new reproductive health clinic based in Northern Virginia, is working to provide care to those who need it most—including patients traveling from states with even stricter constraints on reproductive care. Founded by a group of business and medical professionals deeply concerned about the impact of the 2022 Dobbs decision, Meadow aims to fill the gap left by the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Opening its doors in early 2024, Meadow’s clinic is the first new abortion clinic in the area in over a decade. The clinic offers full-service, patient-centric reproductive health care, and is easily accessible from nearby metro stops and airports. At Meadow, patients can receive not only abortion care but also contraception, gynecological health services, and other essential reproductive health care needs.

“We’re having well more than 100 appointments per month, the majority of which are for abortion services,” said Mike Scheinberg, chief operations officer at Meadow. “But we also offer appointments for gynecological health, contraception—including IUDs and Nexplanon—and other physical health concerns.”

Rubino said there’s a growing desperation from patients seeking birth control. 

“Birth control is really, really important and really gives us a tool to prevent pregnancy and to help other things,” she said. “I’m noticing that people from out of state are even more stressed out than the local folks—[they] have this sense of, like, ‘I’m here, this is my one shot with someone who’s going to tell me the truth, who’s going to give me all the medicine that I’m allowed to have, that’s going to actually answer my questions. So I’m going to try to get all of this done while I’m here.’’

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While the clinic can offer prescriptions in Virginia, Rubino is not licensed in other states to provide continuing prescriptions to patients.

While 83% of Meadow’s patients come from Virginia, the clinic also sees individuals from Maryland, Florida, Washington, D.C., and 12 other states. Their average patient age is just over 30, slightly older than the national average of 25 to 29.

The fight for reproductive rights continues

Youngkin’s amendments arrive at a time when national reproductive rights are already in flux. In Virginia, the decision to weaken these bills reinforces concerns that the state could see more aggressive rollbacks in the future.

“It’s really stressful when your own government is acting like it doesn’t support what you do, even though you know it’s safe,” Rubino said. “It’s what your patients are asking you for.”

She said despite government involvement, it’s clear what the people of Virginia want. 

“They want access to their reproductive rights, their reproductive freedoms, and all that entails, from contraception to abortion care to miscarriage care to being taken care of if you have an ectopic pregnancy, if there’s an emergency, any of that…and the polling shows that’s what people support.” 

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