Four years after Dobbs, the quiet shutdown of independent abortion clinics has become a nationwide crisis—leaving 14 states with zero clinics and countless communities without any nearby, in-person reproductive care.

July 8, 2026
by Erin Grant, Ms. Magazine

Picture a map of the United States. It’s 2022, and in southern states like Texas and Tennessee, there are clusters of black dots that represent independent clinic closures. These are abortion care black holes: communities where it’s no longer possible to get an abortion at a nearby clinic.

Fast forward to present. It’s 2026, four years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and black dots have multiplied in states across the country. It no longer matters if the state is red or blue governed by conservatives or progressives. None are immune to the increasing weight of political pressure, financial strain and operational difficulty that are forcing independent clinics to close or stop providing abortion care. Each of these black dots is a community suffering a healthcare crisis, and they are proliferating across the United States at a rapid rate.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/07/08/abortion-clinic-closures-dobbs/