Toledo's last abortion clinc fights for its license

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The city of Toledo’s last abortion clinic is fighting to keep its license in the face of a state mandate requiring such facilities to have a transfer agreement with a hospital.

The Blade newspaper reports that the Capital Care Network tried to persuade an Ohio Department of Health hearing examiner Wednesday that a deal it struck recently with the University of Michigan Health System fulfills the requirement.

The state had rejected the agreement, challenging the legality and common sense of transporting clinic patients suffering complications to another city. The mandate requires an agreement with a “local” hospital.

The other abortion clinic in Toledo closed last summer under the rule because it also lacked such an agreement.