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Planned Parenthood set to open secretly constructed 18,000-sq-foot abortion 'mega-clinic' in Illinois

The facility is expected to start taking patients soon and is equipped to serve as many as 11,000 people a year
UPDATED MAR 17, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Planned Parenthood has had its back against the wall since the recent slew of anti-abortion bills that have been passed in 12 states curtailing access to abortion facilities, though it's now fighting back with an 18,000-square-foot mega-clinic in southern Illinois.

The facility has been under secret construction since August 2018, according to CBS News, and is just 13 miles away from Missouri's last remaining abortion clinic in St. Louis, which is currently fighting to keep its license. 

With the US Supreme Court now conservative-leaning, lawmakers across the states in the South and Midwest have been racing to pass bills that restrict access to abortion in the hope of overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that effectively legalized abortion.

Missouri has been the state that was hit the hardest, with the embattled lone Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis the only legal abortion clinic in the state.

That facility too was nearly forced to stop providing abortions in May after the state's health department refused to renew its license, though primary injunctions have allowed it to continue operating.

The lone clinic aside, patients who seek abortions in the state have to undergo state-mandated counseling where they receive anti-abortion literature and are then forced to wait at least 72 hours before they can have their abortion.

The desperate situation in Missouri has meant that Illinois, where lawmakers have expanded abortion access and loosened restrictions with the 'Reproductive Health Act,' has had to cater to thousands of women who come from Missouri and other midwest states for abortions. 

Since 2017, the number of women crossing into Illinois for abortion has doubled, which means that the construction of the mega-clinic would be paramount in easing the load across some of the other facilities in the state.

To ensure that the construction would not be hindered by protests and other delays — other Planned Parenthood projects had run into problems with vendors and suppliers who did not want to offer their services to an abortion provider.  

The organization used a shell company to construct the facility, which is now one of the largest abortion clinics in the country.   

"We were really intentional and thoughtful about making sure that we were able to complete this project as expeditiously as possible because we saw the writing on the wall," said Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

"Patients need better access, so we wanted to get it open as quickly as we could," McNicholas added.

Planned Parenthood expects the facility to start accepting patients next month and is equipped to serve up to 11,000 patients a year.

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