JUST IN: Planned Parenthood is launching its 1st mobile abortion clinic — with plans to reach patients in red states and cut down on how far they need to travel.
A rendering from Planned Parenthood shows the design for a new mobile clinic expected to begin providing abortion pills in Illinois by the end of the year.A rendering from Planned Parenthood shows the design for a new mobile clinic expected to begin providing abortion pills in Illinois by the end of the year.
"Our goal is to reduce the hundreds of miles that people are having to travel now in order to access care...and meet them where they are," said Yamelsie Rodriguez, President of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said in an interview with NPR. The mobile clinic will begin offering consultations and dispensing abortion pills later this year. It will operate within Illinois, where abortion remains legal, but will be able to travel closer to neighboring states' borders, reducing the distance many patients travel for the procedure.Planned Parenthood opened the Fairview Heights Health Center in Fairview Heights, Illinois, in 2019, anticipating a surge in patients from across the region. That surge is quickly materializing.Planned Parenthood opened the Fairview Heights Health Center in Fairview Heights, Illinois, in 2019, anticipating a surge in patients from across the region. That surge is quickly materializing.for people from other parts of the Midwest and South who've become unable to get abortions in their home states as a result of this summer's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturningAnticipating that possibility, Planned Parenthood opened a large clinic in 2019 in Fairview Heights, Illinois, just across the state line from St. Louis. Missouri had some of the nation's strictest abortion laws even before the court released thedecision, and state officials moved almost immediately to implement abortion bans in response to it.The Fairview Heights clinic is projected to receive about 14,000 patients traveling from across the region each year, an increase that"is materializing much, much faster than we anticipated," Rodriguez said."We just need more access points." The mobile facility – set up inside of an RV – will include a small waiting area, laboratory, and two exam rooms. It initially will provide medication abortion up to 11 weeks gestation, officials said. It eventually will offer surgical abortions, likely beginning sometime next year. Patients seeing healthcare providers at the mobile clinic will follow the same protocol as those visiting a permanent Planned Parenthood facility, said to Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood in the region. They take mifepristone - the first in a two-drug protocol approved by the Food and Drug Administration - on-site. They're offered counseling about the other drug, misoprostol, which is taken later."The only thing that will change is the fact that now they might only have to drive five hours instead of nine hours," she said. One of the first tasks will be to determine the best routes for the mobile clinic. The organization is reviewing data to determine where patients are coming from and looking at healthcare facilities, churches, and other locations as potential stopping-off points. Another important consideration will be safety and security for patients and staff, McNicholas said. Officials say they may expand to additional mobile units in the future. If the mobile clinic concept succeeds, it could be part of a larger strategy to find new ways to reach patients seeking abortions post-