CHICAGO — Planned Parenthood is launching a mobile abortion unit in southern Illinois to help reach out-of-state patients and decrease wait times, as more states ban or severely restrict terminating a pregnancy.
The abortion provider announced the project Monday, roughly 100 days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established the right to terminate a pregnancy nationwide. Since the June 24 reversal of federal reproductive rights protections, out-of-state abortions have surged in Illinois, where terminating a pregnancy is legal.
“Over the past 100 days, I’ve cared for people from across the country who traveled to southern Illinois for abortion care,” said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, which covers southern Illinois. “These patients are navigating a politically designed obstacle course to access abortion and other basic health care.”
