The city council of Charleston, West Virginia, rejected a defunct abortion center's bid to become a needle exchange for drug users.
In a Monday vote, council members voted 17-9 to reject the plan, with some voicing concern that such a program would increase crime and encourage drug use, while others pointed to Hepatitis C and HIV causing problems in the city.
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"We have a problem in Charleston with these diseases. Hepatitis C will bankrupt us," council member Frank Annie said, while Pat Jones, another council member, said, "An addiction is your choice."
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Charleston, the Appalachian state's capital, was home to the country's "most concerning HIV outbreak" due to dirty needles.
Since the Mountain State's legislature passed a near-total ban on abortion, the Women's Health Center, formerly the only abortion provider in the state, has attempted to dive into other controversial medical programs such as needle exchanges and gender transition procedures.
The premise of the needle exchange is what proponents call "harm reduction" in which the circumstances around taking drugs become safer: A clean needle can reduce the spread of diseases such as HIV, but the underlying problem of addiction is often not addressed.
West Virginia is a state ravaged by the opioid crisis with the highest rate of overdoses, but in areas where "harm reduction" measures have been taken, such as Oregon and New York City, addiction, use, and overdose deaths have spiked. Many in those areas have reported the programs simply "normalizing" opioid use as opposed to helping to end it.
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At the hearing prior to the vote, some locals voiced concern that the program would enable addiction. Pam Stevens, who lives close to the Women's Health Center, called the idea "an abomination." Her 44-year-old son Adam died of an overdose.
The attempt at a program at the Women's Health Center comes as abortion clinics across the country are looking to change their focus as a growing number of states are banning or restricting abortions in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.