Greetings,

Great News! 

Medication abortion to be offered at PPIL’s Health Center in Springfield!

Planned Parenthood of Illinois is committed to making sure that a full range of reproductive health care services are available in Illinois.  As a health care provider in Springfield for over 35 years, Planned Parenthood knows that the women of this area need access to a wider range of services closer to home.  That’s why we are pleased to announce that in the coming months we will begin offering medical abortion services at our Health Center in Springfield.  (See today’s article in the State Journal-Register.)

Please show your support of our service expansion by sending a letter to the editor of the State Journal-Register!

After a careful assessment of the needs of our patients and the community, we decided to expand our services to include medication abortion so that women will have more choices available to them.  Expansion of medication abortion to the Springfield Health Center will provide access for women who would otherwise have to travel 100 miles or more for care.

Each year PPIL provides more than 10,000 health care visits for Springfield area residents.  In Fiscal Year 2009, the Springfield Health Center administered more than 994 pregnancy tests. Twenty-eight percent of these were positive.

Sangamon County is home to some of the highest birth rates, including teen birth rates, in Illinois.  Nearly half of all pregnancies in Illinois are unintended.  And many of the women who come to our Springfield Health Center and find out they are pregnant request help in obtaining abortion services. 

Unfortunately, there are only four abortion providers in downstate Illinois – one in Peoria, two in Champaign (including PPIL’s Champaign Health Center) and one in Granite City.  The travel and time required by going to another city can be a challenge for many women who already face barriers to accessing health care.  This is particularly true for low-income women who do not have the financial resources for transportation.

The women of the Springfield area deserve better.

Take Action!

Send a letter of support to the State Journal-Register.  Use the sample letter below as a model when filling out the letter to the editor form on the SJ-R website.

Comment on the State Journal-Register website.  You can register to make comments directly on the SJ-R website on the same page as today's article.  Just go to the bottom of the page.

SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor,

I was so pleased to learn that Planned Parenthood will be providing medication abortion in Springfield.

Right now, if a woman living in Springfield decides that abortion is the best option for her, she has to travel to another city.  For many women this is a great hardship.  Facing an unintended pregnancy is difficult enough.  It shouldn’t be made worse by the bad luck of living somewhere that doesn’t have the care you need.

I’m glad that after so many years of providing quality health care in Springfield, Planned Parenthood is expanding its services to help even more women.

Sincerely,