Planned Parenthood offers free abortions and vasectomies at walk-in clinic near DNC to ‘show what’s possible’

A few blocks from the Democratic National Convention, Planned Parenthood is offering free medical abortions and vasectomies at its health clinic to show “what is possible when policies that support health care are available,” according to the agency.

Doctors were offering abortions and vasectomies by appointment Monday in the West Loop and said they planned to continue doing so Tuesday. As of Monday evening, there was no appointment on Tuesday. The Chicago Abortion Fund is also distributing emergency contraception in the area.

“Tens of thousands of people will go to Chicago (for the DNC),” said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which covers the St. Louis and southwest Missouri. “I’m glad we’re able to show the world in a state like Illinois — where we have supportive policies — we can do these smarter things.”

The reproductive rights event comes as access to abortion is expected to be a central focus at the DNC as well as in the November presidential election. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has been outspoken about her plan to roll back federal abortion rights, blaming the 2022 overturn of Roe v Wade on Republican presidential nominee, former Pres. Donald Trump.

JB Pritzker’s abortion rights advocacy group, Think Big America, is scheduled to host a panel Wednesday called “Freedom on the Ballot: The 2024 Abortion Initiative Landscape.” Pritzker and leaders of the People’s PAC, the Justice Project, Reproductive Freedom for All and the Planned Parenthood Foundation are scheduled to participate.

At the clinic, patients were wheeled in and out of a refurbished 37-foot-long recreational vehicle for their Monday afternoon appointments.

Before his operation, patient Marcus Aguinaga said the idea of ​​a health clinic seemed “cold” to him.

But the 27-year-old Chicago resident said she had wanted to get a vasectomy since 2020 but the procedure was difficult; Planned Parenthood officials say vasectomies typically cost about $800 and medical abortions typically cost about $500.

Aguinaga said she moved here about a year ago from Texas, where she had watched abortion restrictions for years.

“If they’re going to make … health care so difficult, I’d rather have a ban,” he said.

After the process, Aguinaga said he felt “relieved.”

He added: “I felt very cared for.

The event during the DNC was the first time the teleclinic was used in Illinois, although it has been used in other states, McNicholas said.

Planned Parenthood officials had announced plans for the car after the fall of Roe, seeing it as an easier way to travel and reach patients. The car includes a waiting room, a bathroom and two examination rooms; doctors say it was designed to replicate a patient experience similar to a brick-and-mortar health center with the ability to walk and meet patients in more convenient locations.

About a dozen anti-abortion protesters gathered around a fence near the mobile clinic, holding signs with photos of aborted babies and slogans such as “another life and each other is important.”

Protestant Caroline Taylor Smith, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Outreach Campaign, called the phone clinic incident “disgraceful.”

“They’re undermining something that’s very human, very difficult and hurts a lot of people,” he said.

“God hates hands that shed innocent blood,” shouted one anti-abortion activist. “The blood of the children you helped shed will testify against you.”

Since the end of Roe, 14 states — including Missouri — have all banned abortions and several others have passed stronger abortion bans.

However, that could change during the November election. Missouri is one of at least a dozen states where citizens will be voting on abortion rights: If approved by a majority of Missouri voters, the voting process for the constitutional amendment is guaranteeing the right to an abortion could reverse the country’s ban that went into effect. when Roe fell.

Seven states have had ballot measures on abortion rights by 2022; in all cases, voters favored abortion rights.