After leaving a so-called 'abortion desert,' this doctor worries about what's next

“West Virginia has always had areas that have been deserts in other forms of health care,” says Dr. Anne Banfield, an OB-GYN who provides abortion services and left the state in early 2022. “And so those women really, in that state, or anyone who needs full-service reproductive care, often have to travel vast distances, creating these deserts, as we call them, where services just aren't available.”