Inside Planned Parenthood’s first abortion clinic on wheels

Planned Parenthood announced last month it will open its first mobile abortion clinic: a fully operational medical facility to be parked in southern Illinois. The idea is to make abortion access easier for patients in neighboring states that have banned the procedure. 

“Our priority is making sure that the constituents who have been left behind in those states have access to basic health care,” said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis region and southwest Missouri.

The RV is equipped with two exam rooms, a waiting area and a lab. Medical abortions will be administered there by pill by the end of the year, and next year, through surgical procedures, the non-profit organization says.

Planned Parenthood employees call the mobile center an act of activism in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade. Since then, the organization has seen a 370% increase in abortion procedures at their southern Illinois clinic from patients traveling from beyond Illinois and Missouri. 

“We’re really at a critical moment, a public health crisis where we need folks to be thinking differently, to be working together, to be acting boldly and to be taking risks,” McNicholas said.   

The RV is equipped with cameras — and will initially have a security guard.

“We were really thoughtful about the safety and security of the unit,” McNicholas said. 

But some are against it.

Lobbyist Sam Lee of the anti-abortion rights group Campaign Life Missouri called Planned Parenthood’s mobile medical facility “very irresponsible” and said the group is “trying to solicit Missouri women.”

“When a woman has a complication, where can you go back to get help when that abortion van is gone?” he told CBS News. 

Instead, Lee said he wants to see more resources go to alternatives for pregnant women in Missouri like pregnancy centers and housing help. 

It “always comes down to, for women who are unsure about their decision or who are being coerced into their decision being given true choices,” he said.