Planned Parenthood clinic adds medication abortion services, moves to new site
Nov. 16—MANKATO — Planned Parenthood opened its new clinic in Mankato this week, with medication abortions among its expanded services.
The clinic closed its longtime location at 201 N. Victory Drive last week in favor of a move to 340 Stadium Road, Suite 400, near Minnesota State University.
The move includes hiring more staff in response to the greater demand for reproductive health care services since the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, said Ruth Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States.
"We've really been focused on expanding access to meet the need of the new reality we find ourselves in," Richardson said.
The Supreme Court's summer 2022 Dobbs decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. Republican-run states, including Minnesota neighbors, have since enacted restrictions on abortions, while Minnesota's Democratic-majority Legislature enshrined abortion rights into law this year.
One result of states' responses to the Supreme Court, Richardson said, has been an influx of patients traveling from out of state to Minnesota for abortion care. The development influenced Planned Parenthood's expansion in Mankato and elsewhere in the state.
After the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision, there were 6,800 total abortions in Minnesota in July through December, according to an annual report by the Minnesota Department of Health. The same month range had 4,894 abortions in 2021 and 4,294 in 2020.
Patients coming in from Minnesota's neighbors account for a large percentage of the uptick in 2022. Between 2020 and 2021 there was an average of about 866 patients coming from Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota or Wisconsin for abortions. The total spiked up to 1,702 in 2022.
Medication abortion, the use of medicines to bring about an abortion, weren't previously available in Mankato. A patient seeking the service would've most likely been referred to the Twin Cities for either a medication or surgical abortion.
Mankato's site, which had about 2,400 patients in its 2023 fiscal year, joins Planned Parenthood clinics in Brooklyn Park, Minneapolis and Rochester in either adding or expanding medication abortion services. Both medication and surgical abortion services could be expanded at the organization's St. Paul site, Richardson said.
Despite moves by state legislatures to restrict abortions, Planned Parenthood also has been expanding medication abortion services in Iowa and Nebraska. Compared to its 16 health centers in Minnesota, it has six in Iowa, two in Nebraska and one in South Dakota.
Being located close to a university — the typical Planned Parenthood patient is between 20-30 years old — can help with access in Mankato, Richardson added. When she was a college student, she didn't have health insurance and turned to Planned Parenthood for health care.
In rural areas where access to reproductive health care is scarce, she said, Planned Parenthood fills in a gap. Birth control is one of the more common services provided by the organization, along with screening for sexually transmitted diseases and other health conditions.
Restricting access to abortions only creates more barriers to accessing other forms of health care, Richardson said, creating "reproductive health care deserts." She noted some of the same states with the most restrictive abortion bans also have the worst outcomes for maternal and infant mortality.
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed the infant mortality rate in the U.S. rose for the first time in 2022 since 2002. Iowa, Georgia, Missouri and Texas were the four states with significant increases, and Richardson said the rise shows why increasing access to care rather than restricting it is so important.
Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola
Follow Brian Arola @BrianArola
