Abortion safe havens are ready to welcome patients in a post-Roe America

Story at a glance

• Planned Parenthood of Illinois expects to conduct anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 additional abortions now that Roe v. Wade has been struck down.

• The reproductive health care provider has already opened two new clinics, along its shared border with Indiana and Wisconsin.

• In 2020, Illinois received 9,700 out-of-state patients seeking an abortion, the highest number in 25 years.

Abortion providers are preparing for tens of thousands of additional patients as the Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion access on Friday.

In states like Illinois, where abortion access is enshrined in state law, abortion providers are doubling down on staffing, expanding their clinics and mentally preparing for thousands of new patients coming in from out of state.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) expects tens of thousands of people will need to come to the state annually for health care that the clinic provides — including approximately 20,000 to 30,000 additional abortion patients.

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade—the 1973 case that affirmed the constitutional right to seek an abortion – reverses 50 years of precedent in the country. In that time, women and others of reproductive age have relied on the ruling to make important health care decisions. On Friday, the court ruled that abortion access should be left to states to determine.

Many states had already moved to restrict abortion access in anticipation of the court’s ruling. Twenty-six states are certain to ban abortion as quickly as possible and within those, 13 states have trigger laws already in place, designed to take effect automatically or by quick state action now that Roe no longer applies.

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In a press conference shortly after the court’s decision was released, held by PPIL, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “We will continue to be an oasis, a beacon in the surrounding area and across our country to make sure that people who need access to reproductive health care can get it in our city, in our state and we’re going to provide even additional resources to make sure that that happens.”

That’s in reference to the Chicago Department of Public Health pledging to invest $500,000 towards access to reproductive healthcare for Chicagoans and out-of-states residents who seek legal care in the city.

In an interview with Changing America, Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of PPIL said she also considers Illinois, “an oasis for care in a vast abortion desert, here in the middle of the country.”

Over the past decade, Illinois has been receiving a growing number of out-of-state patients seeking an abortion, with state health data revealing about 9,700 pregnancies were terminated for out-of-state residents in 2020.

That’s the highest number of out of-state patients Illinois has seen over the past 25 years.

Welch said PPIL has already expanded its operations around the state, opening two additional health centers in strategic locations.

One is located in Floosmoor, Ill., placed near the Indiana border — where abortion is banned at 22 weeks and patients are required to make two separate doctor visits before the procedure can be done.

According to Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) data, nearly 2,000 Indiana residents traveled to Illinois for an abortion in 2020.

PPIL’s second new health center was placed in Waukegan, Ill., near the Wisconsin border, where abortion is banned after 20 weeks and also requires patients to take two trips to a doctor before the procedure can be done.

In the wake of the Supreme Court striking down Roe, on Friday Planned Parenthood Wisconsin announced it, “has been forced to temporarily suspend abortion services.”

One out-of-state abortion provider is moving its operations to Illinois, with Tennessee-based CHOICES Memphis Center for Reproductive Health opening a new clinic in Carbondale, Ill.– a three-hour drive from Memphis and a stop on the Amtrak line, making it a relatively accessible and affordable option for Tennessee residents hoping to get an abortion.

That’s because Tennessee is slated to make abortion a felony, through its “Human Life Protection Act.” It stands to take effect 30 days after the Supreme Court overrules Roe v. Wade.

Other states are also hoping to protect reproductive freedom in response to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, with California, Washington state and Oregon announcing the formation of the West Coast offense. The multi-state commitment aims to protect against efforts by states hostile to abortion rights that target patients who receive legal reproductive healthcare in California, Washington state or Oregon.

It includes protections against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out-of-state investigations, the misuse of medical records and other sensitive health information and protections for licensed medical professionals who provide reproductive health care.

Abortion policy and advocacy group Guttmacher Institute says abortion bans and restrictions don’t reduce unintended pregnancies or demand for abortion — they simply create hurdles in obtaining care, cause stress and lead some to carry a forced pregnancy.

“This decision comes when the need for abortion is actually growing in the United States. The 930,000 abortions obtained across the country in 2020 represent the first sustained increase in abortion in almost three decades—and more than one in three of these abortions were obtained in states that are now certain or likely to ban abortion,” said Herminia Palacio, president and CEO of Guttmacher, in a statement.

Health professionals have warned that without the protections of Roe v. Wade, some women may die as a result of being unable to get an abortion.

“I do anticipate a rise in maternal deaths as a result, and I think that is something that we, as a public health community, have to prepare for,” said Lauren Ralph, an epidemiologist at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco, to Changing America.

Ralph was part of the research team that conducted the Turnaway Study which examined the effects of unwanted pregnancies on women’s lives. That study found that women denied an abortion were more likely to experience serious complications from the end of pregnancy, like eclampsia and death.

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