Sen. Tina Smith And Tammi Kromenaker Talk About Abortion Rights Before State of the Union

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KVRR) — Sen. Tina Smith has invited the director of Red River Women’s Clinic to be her special guest at the State of the Union.

KVRR Local News had a chance to talk with Sen. Smith and Tammi Kromenaker just hours before the president’s address to the nation.

Smith says women from all across the region depend on the clinic for reproductive health care.

She says the president will be talking about the importance of protecting that and abortion care and restoring Roe.

Kromenaker says she is happy to lift up the voices of the patients they see at the only abortion clinic in the region, which was forced to move from Fargo to Moorhead.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to take that huge impact to both the practice and to our patients who feel like crossing state lines makes them at risk of being a criminal,” said Kromenaker.

Smith said, “This is a personal decision that people should be able to make in consultation with their families and their doctors, that each situation is different and unique and this is a place for women to be able to decide for themselves without political interference.”

The clinic relocated in 2022 after the Supreme Court returned the abortion decision to the states and North Dakota’s governor signed a ban.

Minnesota is one of seven states where abortion is legal at any stage.

You catch watch the State of the Union address at 8 p.m. on KVRR.