After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the US Supreme Court, abortion has been outlawed in a number of states. Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that offers sexual health services in the US and abroad, has announced plans to open its first mobile abortion clinic as the number of people needing the operation grows.
According to reports, the NGO will start a 37-foot RV (Recreational Vehicle) in Southern Illinois and travel to the borders of neighboring states where abortion is prohibited. There will be a lab, two examination rooms, and a waiting area in the mobile abortion clinic.
The clinic will provide medication abortions up to 11 weeks of gestation
According to Planned Parenthood, initially, the clinic will provide medication abortions up to 11 weeks of gestation. However, after a few months, it will start providing surgical abortions.
“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,” Yamelsie Rodriguez, President of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri was quoted as saying by NPR.
“The mobile abortion clinic is a way to reduce travel times and distances in order to meet patients at the Illinois border. This will make a dramatic impact on their access,” added Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood’s St. Louis office.
If the test concept is successful, more mobile units might be added
While neighboring states Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and a number of others in the South and Midwest have abortion bans, Illinois does not have any ban. As a result, pregnant women who feel wronged travel in droves to Illinois to find abortion clinics. According to Parent Parenthood representatives, if the test concept is successful, more mobile units might be added. It might be a way to offer women across state borders access to pregnancy termination services in a post-Roe world.
The court’s ruling goes against a global trend whereby abortion regulations have been more lenient, especially in countries like India, Ireland, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia.