FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — This weekend marks one year since the United States Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Following the decision, Missouri was the first state to ban abortions, while abortion services in Illinois are still legal and available.
Coming in droves, clients make their way to Planned Parenthood in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
Driving up, they're greeted by two different parties.
Before entering Thursday morning, you see signs nearby saying, 'choose life' and a man holding on to a rosary.
Anti-abortion advocates tried to stop cars from going through to Planned Parenthood, while a clinic escort volunteer held a poster saying, 'they're protestors, don't stop.'
This is what an abortion facility looks like one year after the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
"We will probably be close to seeing 10,000 abortion patients this year in the Fairview Heights location. That percentage accounts 700% increase in those folks," Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said.
The Fairview Heights location expanded by bumping up hours to 10-hour days, six days a week. Wait times for abortion services are two weeks.
"At Fairview Heights, before the Dobbs decision, folks outside of Illinois was at 7% and now nearly half are from outside Illinois, majority are from Missouri. One of the most critical things we did in this post Dobbs time was putting a lot of energy and resources in managing logistics to get folks here," she added.
McNicholas notes she's noticed a lack of locations has caused delays in care and people are coming in with later stages of pregnancy.
In order to keep up, she acknowledges the help from their nurse practitioner, who's been able to expand capacity.
Earlier this year, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law allowing advanced practice nurses and physician assistants with proper training to perform abortion services.
Kawanna Shannon, director of Patient Access who has worked at Planned Parenthood for 22 years, said the last year has been a rollercoaster while overlooking the regional logistics center and call center.
"More than tripled the calls we used to see. They need hotel rooms or money for a plane, train, gas money, or childcare," Shannon added.
Also seeing an increase in traffic is Coalition Life.
The organization is adjacent to Planned Parenthood and it's seen an 84% increase in traffic next door.
Brian Westbrook founded Coalition Life and he said its community center was built six months after Planned Parenthood's 18,000-square-foot facility opened up in January 2019.
Coalition Life released these numbers from this past year:
- Over the course of 11 months following the ruling, there were 37,651 encounters with those entering and exiting the parking lot, compared to 20,447 encounters in the preceding 11 months.
- Prior to the Dobbs decision, Coalition Life sidewalk counselors recorded 162 turnarounds in Fairview Heights over an 11-month period. Following the ruling, the total number of turnarounds at that location rose to 288 within the same timeframe, indicating a 78% increase.
Westbrook said this means they'll expand too.
"In the state of Missouri, we're expanding our pregnancy center and ultrasound services. Expanding our staffing and our hours is really critical as we move forward," Westbrook said. "We help educate them and we can help them with rent payments and phone bills."
Midwest Access Coalition has also seen an increase. The coalition is an abortion fund that helps people traveling to, from, and within the Midwest to access abortion services.
Alison Dreith, director of Strategic Partnership, said the coalition has doubled the number of clients from last year and they expect to outpace 2022 with 50 clients per month.
Dreith shared these numbers:
- 2021: 800 clients
- 2022: 1620 clients
- 2023: 921 clients (as of June 15)
It's volunteer-based but with those big numbers, they now have nine employees.
"People are traveling further now. Within the last year, it can be three weeks to get an appointment, before it was 24 hours. A lot of callers are worried about their children, legality of their state," Dreith said.
Just 48 hours prior to the anniversary, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01) joined Representatives Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) and Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) and Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to introduce the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act to provide grant assistance for those who travel long distances to receive reproductive health care, including abortion care.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey also sent a news release, which stated that they were celebrating the year anniversary and through a cooperation with Her PLAN, Heartbeat International, and eight other attorney generals, they are hosting a donation drive to support more than 60 pregnancy centers across the U.S. from June 20-24.
As the one year-anniversary is near, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services will come back in town on the eve of the overturn.
Xavier Becerra was in town visiting Planned Parenthood in St. Louis last year when the decision to overturn Dobbs was announced.
On Friday, he will be back visiting both Planned Parenthood sites in Illinois and Missouri.