Decades ago a handful of devoted women filled the trunks of their used cars with printed information on birth control, menopause and other unmentionable female issues, and set out on a mission to try to better educate Bangor-area women about their own health care.

A formidable job, for sure: a group of liberal hippie types on a mission with practically no resources and relying only on the good will of physicians and nurses willing to help out to improve access to health care for women of all income levels.

And yes, that included abortion services.

That was the beginning of the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center, which began in 1984.

As the abortion debate swelled, the Wadsworth center became the local focus in the national argument. In 1992 the agency finally was able to rent a space and open up a health center at the Kenduskeag Plaza, where for the next 13 years, it was able to offer comprehensive health services for women of all income levels in increasingly cramped quarters amid pizza parlors and bakeries.

Women seeking its services had to bypass dedicated protesters with gruesome posters depicting dead, mutilated, aborted babies, just feet away from the center’s front door.

During the 1990s, as violence at abortion clinics across the country made headlines, the five determined founders of the Wadsworth center, and its employees and volunteers, persevered with the mission. The agency grew, pushing past the abortion protesters and working to convince the community that while safe and legal abortion was an important part of its mission, it was not the sole purpose.

This week, four of those five founders were on hand when the Wadsworth center closed on a suite of beautiful, modern offices off Mount Hope Avenue. The only one missing was Mabel herself; she passed away in January 2006 at age 95.

Along with owning its own health care facility (it had been renting at the site since 2005), the center is wrapping up a $1.3 million campaign that it hopes will help ensure affordable, accessible health care to women for generations to come.

Ruth Lockhart, the Wadsworth center’s executive director and one of its founding members, has willingly soldiered through the last two decades hell-bent on its mission. She has the battle scars to prove it.

Life today is just a little bit easier.

During a tour of the facility, she notes every window (they never really had any before), the high-tech brand-new exam tables (previously they only had used) and the latest sonogram equipment.

They have a billing specialist, a program director, a full-time nurse practitioner, an education coordinator – in all 11 full-time employees and one part-time volunteer doctor.

Do they still perform abortions? Yes. Do the protesters still come? Yes, they do. Every Wednesday. Now, however, they have to park themselves on Mount Hope Avenue, and since the Wadsworth center is nestled among dozens of other nondescript office suites, patientks have a larger degree of anonymity and security.

Today the Wadsworth center provides prenatal services to about 140 pregnant women. The facility willingly accepts MaineCare patients, but acknowledges that privately insured patients help it achieve its mission.

The center provides a full array of health care services for women of all income levels. It is one of 15 independent women’s health care centers in the nation, and while the numbers across the country are shrinking, the Wadsworth center is flourishing.

Those five dedicated founders are a big part of the reason, and so is a board of directors that has been able to keep its vision and commitment despite the chaos and controversy.

But primarily the success of the Wadsworth center is because of a community that saw past the headlines, past the word “abortion” and chose to support the mission of an agency committed to providing good health care and good information to anyone who came to its door.

Do the struggle and debate continue? You bet.

Throughout my tour of the newly purchased offices this week, Lockhart proudly pointed out every window, each with a nice view of a green lawn and a rushing stream.

None of the windows opened. Nor did the beautiful French doors in her own office, for each is barricaded with bulletproof glass.

But despite that, the view is beautiful.

reneeordway@gmail.com