FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. – Illinois leaders say they are prepared for the influx of up to 14,000 women that may seek abortion care in a post-Roe v. Wade world. 

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri opened the Regional Logistics Center in January and says it has helped navigate nearly 1,000 women from seven states to southern Illinois for care. 

What You Need To Know

  • Illinois leaders believe up to 14,000 women may seek abortion care at a Fairview Heights clinic if Roe v. Wade is overtruned

  • The Regional Logistics Center has already helped nearly 1,000 women navigate care from seven different states

  • Illinois officials and Planned Parenthood are working to train and privilege advanced nurse practitioners in an effort to scale capacity ahead of what they call an “impending surge" of patients

  • Gov. Pritzker called Illinois an "island" among states that would revert to being anti-abortion if Roe v. Wade was overturned

“When women come here to this state, you are welcomed. You are supported. You are safe. You won’t need to suffer additional trauma; you will be treated with dignity, empathy, and compassion,” said Gov. JB Pritzker during a morning press conference. 

Gov. Pritzker joined other state and local leaders at the Fairview Heights abortion clinic to call on Federal lawmakers to protect women’s rights as the future of Roe v. Wade is under threat. 

It comes after a leaked draft opinion shows the Supreme Court is set to overturn the landmark ruling that guaranteed the right to an abortion. Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Senate blocked a bill to codify the right to an abortion into law.

Yamelsie Rodríguez, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, says her organization has been sounding the alarm about more restrictive reproduction rights for the last several years. 

“Without overturning Roe, abortion has been basically decimated in the state of Missouri because of unnecessary restrictions,” said Rodríguez. The state’s last standing abortion clinic is in St. Louis. 

Natalie Clements described the “medically unnecessary hoops” she said she had to jump through to get an abortion in St. Louis when she 19-years-old. 

“I had to take two trips, sit through state mandated propaganda my doctor was forced to read to me and of course, navigate the financial burden because private and public insurance bans in the state,” said Clements.

Clements is just one of several case workers at the Regional Logistics Center in Fairview Heights, now helping arrange travel, lodging and financial aid for patients. 

More than 75% of the clinic’s patients are from out-of-state, coming from places like Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, and Kentucky. 

“If you look at a map of states that will revert to being anti-choice, this is an island, this state,” said Gov. Pritzker about Illinois. 

 

 

 

Illinois officials and Planned Parenthood are working to train and privilege advanced nurse practitioners to provide health care to the full scope of their practice, in an effort to scale capacity ahead of what they call an “impending surge" of patients.

“For thousands of Black and Brown women around the state, this will truly be a matter of life and death,” said Latoya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis. 

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton agreed that low-income Black and Brown women will "bear the brunt" of this crisis. She said the U.S. maternal death rate rose in 2020, and Black women already die at 3-times the rate of white women. She worries that those numbers will skyrocket if Roe v. Wade is overturned. 

“Everyone should have quality reproductive care near their homes in every state. And when the safe environ is restricted wherever you are, know Illinois will step up to be your home for care and welcome you with open arms,” said Julia Stratton