Parkmed NYC, an independent abortion clinic on the east side of Manhattan, is located in a nondescript office building that also houses the Ecuadorian consulate. Five days a week, the clinic is flooded with patients, many of whom have traveled long distances by bus, train or plane to evade abortion bans in their home states.
Ever since Parkmed opened in 1971, two years before Roe v Wade legalized abortion nationwide, it has faced the typical struggles of any abortion clinic: aggressive protesters, bomb threats, legislative challenges. In the wake of the supreme court’s Dobbs decision, which erased the constitutional right to abortion, the clinic has ramped up security by installing new cameras and upgrading the telephone system to record threats; the addition of a bulletproof wall in the reception area is currently in the works. But now, it is facing a new, unlikely adversary: Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, which operates another abortion clinic located just two miles away.
