I grew up in Lee County, Virginia, dreaming of becoming a doctor and hoping one day that I would be able to care for the women in my small town. I would hear stories of “barely making it to the hospital in time for the baby.” I didn’t understand the magnitude of these stories until I became pregnant myself. The only hospital in my county closed ten years before I became pregnant. This hospital had the rare opportunity to reopen two years before my pregnancy, but they do not provide maternity care because of the lack of women’s health providers. It has been over 15 years since our community had a women’s health provider.I never realized how challenging doing everything I could for my baby would be given the crisis in Virginia with growing areas of the state now labeled as “maternity care deserts.” I was scared when I found out I needed to deliver our daughter in Tennessee, driving over an hour and half across state lines to receive care. As a medical student and pregnant individual, I would often think about those less fortunate than I, who have even more social barriers to care than just distance.On April 1st, LewisGale Montgomery shuttered the doors to its labor and delivery unit. This is only the latest example in a trend of how rural hospitals have stopped offering obstetrical services, further creating maternity care deserts. According to the March of Dimes, about a third of Virginia’s 95 counties are maternity care deserts and another 16% have low or moderate access to maternity care. This means almost half of all counties in Virginia do not have full access to maternity care. This comes at a time when the maternal mortality rate in Virginia has risen from 34 to 86 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2018 to 2020.There are several reasons why rural hospitals struggle to provide this care, but a leading cause is an inability to recruit providers and trainees. Attracting women’s health providers will become even more challenging if Virginia legislators further decide to restrict reproductive rights and the physician-patient relationship. Studies show almost 60% of medical trainees saying they are unlikely or very unlikely to apply to stay for residencies in states with abortion restrictions.These restrictions affect all patients seeking to start or expand their family because pregnancy is unpredictable. Although many pregnant individuals will not experience complications, one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage. Often patients in circumstances of miscarriage may need the medications or procedures being banned in state restrictions.Although I want to become an OB/GYN to give back to my community and plan to practice in Southwest Virginia, if state legislators pass measures that interfere in the patient-provider relationship with further restrictions in pregnancy care, I like many other trainees will be forced to make a dire choice. Will I stay for medical training here knowing I cannot provide the standard of care for every patient, or will I leave Virginia entirely, seeking training in a state that keeps the medical decision making to the patients and their families?Last November, Virginians made their beliefs on reproductive rights clear by showing up at the polls and keeping legislators in office who support access to care. But there is still work to be done. Southwest Virginia needs civic engagement around reproductive access. Voting in the November 5th election will be crucial in emphasizing the need for improved reproductive healthcare access, especially in our area. I urge you to register to vote, find your polling place, or vote by absentee ballot. If you are unable to vote on Election Day, ensure your vote counts today by submitting an early ballot. For assistance in finding your voter registration or your closest polling station, https://www.elections.virginia.gov/registration/view-your-info/.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r