West Alabama Women’s Center
West Alabama Women’s Center Logo
Abortion is Still Legal In Alabama And We Are Here to Help! Read below for more. Or, tl;dr - donate here!
About West Alabama Women’s Center and Leadership Team
West Alabama Women’s Center, Inc. is a Tuscaloosa, Alabama medical center specializing in elective abortion and reproductive health care, including gender affirming care. Established in 1993 as a for-profit clinic, the Yellowhammer Fund purchased it in May of 2020 and is the sole stockholder. The clinic is currently re-establishing itself as a not for profit organization in order to better serve its clients.
Dr. Leah Torres, Medical Director
Dr. Leah Torres, M.D. – Medical Director
Dr. Torres comes to the West Alabama Women’s Center after eight years of practice in the low healthcare access states of Utah and New Mexico. Fellowship trained in complex family planning, Dr. Torres has introduced evidence-based, non-judgmental, and gender affirming reproductive and preventative healthcare services to the Alabama community, including abortion care, PrEP, HIV care, contraceptive options and annual wellness exams. Dr. Torres is also a public media figure, sharing facts and combatting medical misinformation on social media networks and in published articles. Her goal is to continue to bring all forms of reproductive healthcare to a state that currently faces some of the worst health outcomes in the nation.
Alesia Horton, Clinic Director
Alesia Horton, Clinic Director
A West Alabama Women’s Center employee for more than a decade, Horton has performed nearly every job in the clinic. Starting as a sterilization tech in 2010, Horton’s continuous drive for skill-building and organization led through numerous positions ranging from Medical Assistant to Office Manager. As Clinic Director, Horton is tasked with all management functions of the West Alabama Women’s Center including employee scheduling, human resources, supply and medication management, banking and the maintaining of Department of Health regulations.
Robin Marty, Operations Director
Robin Marty, Operations Director
Marty serves as the clinic’s Operations Director, where she is responsible for the clinic’s long-term financial management, outside vendor contacts and communications and development plans. A former reporter, Marty came to West Alabama Women’s Center as its Communications Director, a role she held previous at the Yellowhammer Fund. Marty is also the author of “Handbook for a Post-Roe America” editions one and two, and “The End of Roe v. Wade.”
West Alabama Women’s Center Post-Roe Transition Campaign
Like many abortion clinics in hostile states, West Alabama Women’s Center intends to keep its doors open for as long as possible in order to offer a safe, judgement free medical center that can provide ultrasounds, examinations and other care for those who are concerned they could be investigated for potentially endangering their pregnancies if they arrive at a hospital or doctor’s office seeking assistance. Unlike many other clinics in hostile states (Planned Parenthood, Whole Women’s Health, Trust Women, A Woman’s Choice) we have no clinics in other states to fall back on financially in order to subsidize our operations. While our long-term goal is to become self-sustainable based on non-abortion related reproductive healthcare service (annual exams, contraceptives, gender affirming hormonal care, HIV-treatment, PrEP, and STI testing and treatment), the clinic currently faces a $500,000 gap as we initiate relationships with insurers, granting organizations and other entities that will likely provide the majority of our revenue base as our clients are predominately low-income, uninsured, underinsured or on Medicaid. Based on our experience applying for and receiving approval to be an Alabama Medicaid provider (a process that took 16 months for the clinic to complete and which is still incomplete for our doctor) we expect full insurance credentialing, finalizing our non-profit status and obtaining c3 status and establishing a new base clientele and receiving insurance reimbursements to take at least 6-12 months.
Why us
The Deep South Gulf area is one of the most impacted when abortion becomes illegal. For those who live in the Mississippi and Alabama region, general healthcare access itself is difficult to obtain due to the states’ failure to expand Medicaid, its lack of hospitals and doctors in general and its extreme rates of poverty. There are currently four independent abortion providers in the two-state area and three Planned Parenthood clinics (no Planned Parenthood clinics are currently offering abortion), leaving patients with almost no access to sexual health services outside of County Health Departments should they close. This also means that those who have miscarriage questions of any kind and are afraid to go to a hospital or doctor out of fear of an investigation will have very few options.
Brief facts about reproductive healthcare in Mississippi/Alabama
· Almost 20 percent of the population is uninsured. Another 25 percent are on Medicaid
· Nearly half of all pregnancies are unplanned, and of those who give birth half are on Medicaid
· Mississippi’s maternal mortality rate is 33 per 100,000 births. Alabama is 36.4 and the number 6th most dangerous state for pregnant people.
Our Staff
West Alabama Women’s Center currently has a staff of 11 full time employees. The clinic staff is 100 percent women, 73 percent Black, 50 percent single parents and 85 percent sole or main household earner.
Where your funds will go
Current clinic budget is approximately $150,000 a month, which covers payroll and health insurance (60%), malpractice and other business insurance (8%), Electronic Medical Records (3%), Medical and office supplies (15%) and contractors (accounting/hr/legal) (14%). Once abortion is made illegal we will be cutting approximately $50,000 from our budget per month through a variety of reductions, but know that while our revenue will change most expenses will not. In preparation for this operational change we have put aside three months of cash on hand. We are seeking $500,000 in the belief that will stretch us a full year without causing too much financial stress on our current employees.
