CHICAGO — Six months after the historic fall of Roe v. Wade, Illinois abortion providers say they’re seeing an unprecedented number of out-of-state patients — and they’re traveling from more states than ever before.
Before the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to rescind federal abortion protections, Planned Parenthood of Illinois saw dozens of patients from other states every month. Now hundreds of patients are crossing state lines each month to have an abortion at one of Planned Parenthood’s 17 health centers across the state.
Almost a third of the agency’s patients are now from out of state, as opposed to about 6% prior to the demise of Roe, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to end a pregnancy nationwide.
