LeRoy Carhart, who provides abortions in Maryland, has inspired calls for increased regulations in the state.

Last month, the National Women's Law Center released its 2010 report cards on women's health access in the United States. D.C. failed. The District ranked 43rd in the nation on women's healthcare issues, 51st in the nation for its AIDS and maternal mortality rates, and 48th for its binge drinking problem.

But the District of the Columbia did snag the number one spot in one category: abortion access D.C. shares the distinction with Hawaii.

The NWLC gets its abortion access ranking by calculating the percentage of women in the state who live in a county with no abortion provider. Since the measurement considers the totality of D.C. to function as a "county," the District only needs to have one abortion provider to make the procedure accessible to every woman living inside the District line. Technically. D.C. still drew an "unsatisfactory" ranking for women's access to health insurance; women who don't face geographic barriers to abortion may face economic ones.

Virginia, on the other hand, received a failing grade on abortion access. Ranked 32nd in the nation, 57 percent of women in Virginia live in a county with no abortion provider. In the past three years, that number has jumped 10 percent; in 2007, only 47 percent of women in the state lived in a county with no provider.

The state of Maryland rated 12th in the country for its abortion access. Though Maryland is considered to have some of the most permissive abortion laws in the country, the state still received a less-than-satisfactory rating from the NWLC. Nineteen percent of the state's women live in a county with no abortion provider. And some legislators in both Maryland and Virginia are hoping to increase the number of women without access to abortion. Both states are weighing increased regulations on where the procedure can be performed.