By Grace Hills
(Photo- Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Emily Wales, left, and health care manager Logan Rink answer questions during an Aug. 16, 2024, interview in the Pittsburg Planned Parenthood clinic- Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector)
The center, which opens Monday in Pittsburg, expects to have patients from six states in its first five days — Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
Kansas saw a 369% increase in abortions in 2023, with 69% of patients coming from out of state, according to the Guttmacher Institute. For the Trust Women Clinic in Wichita, which was previously the closest city for abortion access for Southern states, 81% of patients were from out of state, with Texas the most common homestate, followed by Oklahoma.
Texas and Oklahoma have total abortion bans, with few exceptions. Southern states have six-week abortion bans. On average, pregnant people know they are pregnant after 5.2 weeks for intendent pregnancies and 7.2 weeks for unintended pregnancies, the National Library of Medicine found.
The Pittsburg clinic will offer medication abortions for up to 11 weeks of pregnancy, and surgical abortions for 14-15 weeks of pregnancy.
But, there will be a delay before the clinic offers surgical care.
“We have excellent trained staff to offer this care,” said Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO Emily Wales. “But we also know it’s a transition for the community and for us to launch a new center here, so it’ll probably be a little bit of time before we’re offering procedural care.”
Why Pittsburg?
Wales said a key factor in the Pittsburg location was access to Southern states.
And she pointed out that Kansas already is well versed in providing abortion care to people from Missouri and other states. Pittsburg is about five miles from the Missouri border.
A 2018 law in Missouri banned abortion after 15 weeks, meaning Kansas had been absorbing Missouri patients for four years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
The 2022 Dobbs decision felt like “dominos falling,” Wales said.
“We are doing everything we can to meet the need,” Wales said. “But we’re also not trying to hide the fact that there are far more people calling than we can actually get in.”
Wales also said there was a need for the services Planned Parenthood offers — which go beyond abortion care — in southeast Kansas. Patients from the Pittsburg area were traveling roughly two hours to Overland Park to receive care.
While more than 60% of Crawford County voters in 2020 supported Donald Trump, the president who packed the Supreme Court with anti-abortion justices, they voted against the proposed constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to terminate a pregnancy in Kansas.
Logan Rink, a Pittsburg native and the health care manager of the Pittsburg clinic, said she has heard positive feedback from the community. She said Planned Parenthood will meet needs that weren’t being met, and that the community views it as a great resource.
Anti-abortion protesters frequent the other Planned Parenthood locations in Kansas, attempting to stop patients from receiving an abortion.
Wales said Planned Parenthood typically sees protests when it opens a new location, but they “die down after a while.”
Members of Lighthouse church, a nondenominational anti-abortion Christian church in Pittsburg spoke in opposition of the clinic at the May 28 city commission meeting.
“I know this is a major issue in our culture, abortion, but the reality is there’s no safe abortions because you start out with two lives and you end with one life,” said Pittsburg resident Shawn Osbeen.
Another resident, Susan Powers, also opposed the clinic, but she said this “may be a wakeup call” for the church and community to provide more support for pregnant people.
The commissioners stayed neutral on the opening of the clinic.
In 2009 in Wichita, George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the nation who performed late-term abortions, was murdered in the foyer of his church. Planned Parenthood has a rigid security protocol in place, with security officers on site, but the shadow of Tiller’s death remains.
“The time it comes up the most, really, is when we are talking to potential providers or physicians who might be interested in staff roles,” Wales said. “They have questions about what the communities are like, what the protesters are like. We are fortunate to have not had that kind of violence at our health centers.”
Patients from the South
The National Library of Medicine found that people from a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to receive an abortion, and extra time away from work adds up. For patients traveling from the South, the Pittsburg clinic will be more than two hours closer than clinics in Wichita.
“If we can cut off two hours one way, then two hours coming home, that’s a tremendous difference for a lot of our patients,” Wales said.
Planned Parenthood provides assistance to patients who need it. Before Dobbs, 80% of its patients didn’t need assistance, and 20% did. Now, Wales said, the percentages have flipped and the assistance they provide looks “entirely different.”
“So many people now have to go so far from home,” Wales said. “People could maybe get two hours from home, but telling patients it’s going to be 10 or 12 hours is impossible for a lot of people.”
The Pittsburg location will provide support for patients who can’t afford the journey. Kansas law allows abortions up to 22 weeks after the last menstrual period, but the Pittsburg clinic won’t have the resources to provide abortions that far into a pregnancy. If needed, the clinic will offer transportation to the Overland Park location, where procedural abortions are offered up to 21 weeks and 6 days into the pregnancy.
Lawsuits in Texas have threatened people traveling to receive abortions. These lawsuits violate the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution and may not be enforceable, but they caused a stigma, Wales said.
“It is heartbreaking to me that we have patients who do come to us and say they didn’t tell their friends or family, even though they knew that they would be supportive of their decision, because they didn’t know if it was legal in their home state to talk about the fact that they were leaving to seek care,” Wales said.
Wales sees a perception that patients believe they can’t travel or talk about abortion. She says they worry about what would happen to their kids, their partners, and their careers.
Issues to watch
Vice President Kamala Harris has made abortion access a cornerstone of her presidential campaign, and if elected she has promised to codify Roe v. Wade, which would legalize abortion nationally.
Missourians will vote on their abortion rights in November. Each time abortion rights are placed on local ballots, the right to choose an abortion has won.
But, even if the movement to secure abortion rights prevails in November, access for every American would take decades, Wales said.
There are multiple lawsuits and legislation in Kansas attempting to restrict abortion access, despite Kansans rejecting the proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate abortion rights in 2022. Planned Parenthood has fought back on these attempts.
“Kansans are saying we want medical care to be private, and not in the hands of the Legislature,” Wales said. “The state passed additional requirements this year where we would have to ask patients invasive and shaming questions that have nothing to do with why they get care or how we deliver care. And so we are challenging that on behalf of our patients.”
The center, which opens Monday in Pittsburg, expects to have patients from six states in its first five days — Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
Kansas saw a 369% increase in abortions in 2023, with 69% of patients coming from out of state, according to the Guttmacher Institute. For the Trust Women Clinic in Wichita, which was previously the closest city for abortion access for Southern states, 81% of patients were from out of state, with Texas the most common homestate, followed by Oklahoma.
Texas and Oklahoma have total abortion bans, with few exceptions. Southern states have six-week abortion bans. On average, pregnant people know they are pregnant after 5.2 weeks for intendent pregnancies and 7.2 weeks for unintended pregnancies, the National Library of Medicine found.
The Pittsburg clinic will offer medication abortions for up to 11 weeks of pregnancy, and surgical abortions for 14-15 weeks of pregnancy.
But, there will be a delay before the clinic offers surgical care.
“We have excellent trained staff to offer this care,” said Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO Emily Wales. “But we also know it’s a transition for the community and for us to launch a new center here, so it’ll probably be a little bit of time before we’re offering procedural care.”
Why Pittsburg?
Wales said a key factor in the Pittsburg location was access to Southern states.
And she pointed out that Kansas already is well versed in providing abortion care to people from Missouri and other states. Pittsburg is about five miles from the Missouri border.
A 2018 law in Missouri banned abortion after 15 weeks, meaning Kansas had been absorbing Missouri patients for four years before the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
The 2022 Dobbs decision felt like “dominos falling,” Wales said.
“We are doing everything we can to meet the need,” Wales said. “But we’re also not trying to hide the fact that there are far more people calling than we can actually get in.”
Wales also said there was a need for the services Planned Parenthood offers — which go beyond abortion care — in southeast Kansas. Patients from the Pittsburg area were traveling roughly two hours to Overland Park to receive care.
While more than 60% of Crawford County voters in 2020 supported Donald Trump, the president who packed the Supreme Court with anti-abortion justices, they voted against the proposed constitutional amendment that would have removed the right to terminate a pregnancy in Kansas.
Logan Rink, a Pittsburg native and the health care manager of the Pittsburg clinic, said she has heard positive feedback from the community. She said Planned Parenthood will meet needs that weren’t being met, and that the community views it as a great resource.
Anti-abortion protesters frequent the other Planned Parenthood locations in Kansas, attempting to stop patients from receiving an abortion.
Wales said Planned Parenthood typically sees protests when it opens a new location, but they “die down after a while.”
Members of Lighthouse church, a nondenominational anti-abortion Christian church in Pittsburg spoke in opposition of the clinic at the May 28 city commission meeting.
“I know this is a major issue in our culture, abortion, but the reality is there’s no safe abortions because you start out with two lives and you end with one life,” said Pittsburg resident Shawn Osbeen.
Another resident, Susan Powers, also opposed the clinic, but she said this “may be a wakeup call” for the church and community to provide more support for pregnant people.
The commissioners stayed neutral on the opening of the clinic.
In 2009 in Wichita, George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the nation who performed late-term abortions, was murdered in the foyer of his church. Planned Parenthood has a rigid security protocol in place, with security officers on site, but the shadow of Tiller’s death remains.
“The time it comes up the most, really, is when we are talking to potential providers or physicians who might be interested in staff roles,” Wales said. “They have questions about what the communities are like, what the protesters are like. We are fortunate to have not had that kind of violence at our health centers.”
Patients from the South
The National Library of Medicine found that people from a lower socioeconomic status are more likely to receive an abortion, and extra time away from work adds up. For patients traveling from the South, the Pittsburg clinic will be more than two hours closer than clinics in Wichita.
“If we can cut off two hours one way, then two hours coming home, that’s a tremendous difference for a lot of our patients,” Wales said.
Planned Parenthood provides assistance to patients who need it. Before Dobbs, 80% of its patients didn’t need assistance, and 20% did. Now, Wales said, the percentages have flipped and the assistance they provide looks “entirely different.”
“So many people now have to go so far from home,” Wales said. “People could maybe get two hours from home, but telling patients it’s going to be 10 or 12 hours is impossible for a lot of people.”
The Pittsburg location will provide support for patients who can’t afford the journey. Kansas law allows abortions up to 22 weeks after the last menstrual period, but the Pittsburg clinic won’t have the resources to provide abortions that far into a pregnancy. If needed, the clinic will offer transportation to the Overland Park location, where procedural abortions are offered up to 21 weeks and 6 days into the pregnancy.
Lawsuits in Texas have threatened people traveling to receive abortions. These lawsuits violate the interstate commerce clause in the U.S. Constitution and may not be enforceable, but they caused a stigma, Wales said.
“It is heartbreaking to me that we have patients who do come to us and say they didn’t tell their friends or family, even though they knew that they would be supportive of their decision, because they didn’t know if it was legal in their home state to talk about the fact that they were leaving to seek care,” Wales said.
Wales sees a perception that patients believe they can’t travel or talk about abortion. She says they worry about what would happen to their kids, their partners, and their careers.
Issues to watch
Vice President Kamala Harris has made abortion access a cornerstone of her presidential campaign, and if elected she has promised to codify Roe v. Wade, which would legalize abortion nationally.
Missourians will vote on their abortion rights in November. Each time abortion rights are placed on local ballots, the right to choose an abortion has won.
But, even if the movement to secure abortion rights prevails in November, access for every American would take decades, Wales said.
There are multiple lawsuits and legislation in Kansas attempting to restrict abortion access, despite Kansans rejecting the proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate abortion rights in 2022. Planned Parenthood has fought back on these attempts.
“Kansans are saying we want medical care to be private, and not in the hands of the Legislature,” Wales said. “The state passed additional requirements this year where we would have to ask patients invasive and shaming questions that have nothing to do with why they get care or how we deliver care. And so we are challenging that on behalf of our patients.”
38 comments:
Abortion is not healthcare!
Mind your own business!
What planet did you come from 112?
Correct!
Abortion is not healthcare.
Experience an ectopic pregnancy and see if you consider abortion healthcare or not.
Get over it or get adopting 112, 1138.
welcome SW MO
hillbilly
How many Woman had Abortions in 2023 - - Let's Deal with the Facts!!!
More than a million abortions occurred in the formal U.S. healthcare system in 2023, the year after the Supreme Court overturned of Roe v. Wade, according to a monthly report from the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports abortion rights.
That is the highest number in more than a decade and a 10% increase since 2020, the report said. And the numbers are likely an undercount because they don't include self-managed abortions that happen outside the healthcare system.
Why do Woman have Abortions -
The most common non-medical reasons that pregnant people seek abortions include finishing education, financial concerns, timing, partner-related considerations, and the need to care for existing children. 64% of surveyed women who sought an abortion cited more than one of these motivations.
So, the Majority of Woman Got an Abortion, because the Child would be Burden On Them - - Not For Medical Reasons - Not for Rape. That is the Truth - Why can't you Face the Facts - - Stop the Lies, Stop the "Men Just Want to Control our Bodies Crap", and be Honest -
What is the Solution - Why don't they use Birth Control, Why do they have Unprotected Sex, Didn't the HIV Scare make any impact on any of them. If you do not want to become Pregnant then Stop Putting Yourselves in those Situations - then using Abortion as your Quick Fixit Solution.
However, birthing parents may also need the procedure for medical reasons, also called termination for medical reasons (TFMR).
If you Truly want to Show all the Men of the World - How much you have Control of Your Bodies - Then Control them and Stop using Abortion to Solve your Problems... Take Responsibility For Your Actions!!!
Wow 515, still haven't read your entry but scanning 9 paragraphs of nonsensical garble leaves me thinking you really need to get out of your house more. Just sayin.
Nobody goes to an abortion clinic to terminate a non viable or an eptopic pregnancy. They exist to get rid of unwanted babies. Pro abortion people are dishonest about their position on these things. IE: It's Healthcare. Not for the baby it isn't. What happened to safe and rare?
155 needs to return to the 1940s or get with the program and expand their limited knowledge.
5:15 perfectly said, to bad you can’t reason with the killers
Facts are very important, especially when discussing the health of women and the American public. The fact is, abortion is an essential component of women’s health care.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), with over 57,000 members, maintains the highest standards of clinical practice and continuing education for the nation’s women’s health physicians. Abortion care is included in medical training, clinical practice, and continuing medical education (https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/abortion-is-healthcare).
Just kill the mother. If the baby is gonna die, let it go down with the ship.
Planned Parenthood is that one place where a female can talk about her reproductive health without bias. Choices can be discussed and implemented on her own time in a respectful manner. Not all women decide to abort after receiving current information. We need to educate women and men on birth control methods and the prevention of sexually transmitted infection which is on the uptick because condoms are not being used, especially in the senior population. Planned Parenthood is a great place to have those needs met.
Pro lifers don't love babies, they just hate women.
7:54PM - First of all, we all know you cannot Read, Write, or Think - Maybe you are the one that needs to "Get-Out-Of-Your-House", and see what is really going on in the World outside of your Basement.
8:01AM - What a Ridiculous and Idiotic Statement - "Pro Lifers don't love Babies - They just Hate Women". Pro Lifers love Life and believe in Life - Period!!!
All you Pro Abortionist - Stop and Think - If you were Aborted by Your Mother - You Wouldn't be Here to even be Part of this Conversation - - Maybe you need to Think about that - before making all your Arguments and telling everyone that Abortions are the Solutions to your Problems.
Very difficult to have a logical informed debate with 1141 when you have to lower your intelligence and simplify your language. Kinda like arguing with your teenage daughter over too much makeup.
Yes, I understand that it's very progressive to kill babies because of selfishness and convenience. That's why I'm not a progressive.
Where's my asprin? 351 on the soap box again declaring, with over excessive verbage and redundant simplicity, of a very outdated right wing philosophy of women being nothing but child bearing servants who have limited rights and have no say over their own bodies. I think the "puppy mill" perspective you hold on and against women 351 is both deplorable and unamerican.
Question… whom or what source is providing the monies for these procedures?
637 Who cares? My tax money goes to right wing politicians whom I despise, who, in their moral highness. choose guns over the life of kids, and I can't do a damn thing about that. Its just how the system works. So get over it sweetheart.
It's almost as though personal healthcare decisions belong to those making the decision.
It's nobodies business. Not yours, not your religion, not your government.
4:37PM - You will Never Understand - It is about Accountability, People taking Responsibility for their Actions - We have become a Country where - NO ONE - is Responsible for Themselves or their Actions - Morals of any kind are just Lacking - - Taking Religion even out of the Picture - Americans are just not Taking Responsibility for their Lives.
Got Pregnant having Unprotected Sex - No Problem - Just have an Abortion. So I can go on with my Life and Even do it again. The Child would just be a Burdon in my Life - Over 64% of Surveyed Women who have had an Abortion - Uses that Excuse - "The Child would just be a Burdon in my Life" - WOW -
The Facts speak for themselves - The Overall Majority of Abortions are done - Not for Medical Reason, Not for Rape or Incest - But because Woman are not Talking Responsibility of their Bodies or their Actions.
If you want to Stand Up and Site Your Bodies Rights, Women's Rights - Then Start Taking Responsibility for your Actions - Become Accountable - Not Just Blaming Men, the Government, or that you are Being Repressed -
As always - You wouldn't even be here for this Conversation or even Your Opinion if your Own Mother - Had an Abortion - Seriously Think about That - I am sure you cannot Understand that - but it is the Truth the Facts - and is not refutable.
8:23 those lefties will never get it, they are using abortion as birth control…. That’s the facts medical or rape is such a tiny percentage.
823, I have no idea what you wrote, and don't care. From a distance, I think you have cut and pasted from previous threads as your multiple paragraphs look similar. We will have to agree to disagree on this and every other topic that comes up. I hope you'll take in the Democratic Convention this week to educate yourself in areas that you're short on. You'll witness real leadership and a true desire to see America to succeed, unlike the magat Convention based on hate and division.
Lots of people claiming facts with no sources, I wonder why that could be...
Interesting how many commentors only interest here is to be 'right', and dictate what someone else can or cannot do.
Majority of these comments are passing judgment prematurely, as well as a lot of falsehoods.
Shame on you.
Randy, if I were you, articles like this should be locked, there is no healthy discussion here, just a lot of keyboard warriors spewing nonsense at each other.
Thank you Randy for having the courage to not resort to censorship just because someone gets their feelings hurt or isn't as articulate and refined in their thoughts as others.
The right confuses being pro-life with being pro-birth. If they were really pro-life, their policies wouldn’t go so hard after the programs that feed and care for these kids after they were born. They wouldn’t scream about providing free lunches or medical care for the kids. But they WILL punish the kids for the audacity of being born by making it harder on their parents to care for the children they forced them to have.
The right wants to exterminate the lgbtq community and utilize cruelty to suppress minorities. They also hate their kids. Pro-life......not.
Who forced them to have unprotected sex when they can't or don't want to provide for a child? I generally am completely for free school lunches and Healthcare for poor children. Lord knows I pay enough taxes to facilitate those things. I'm not for irresponsible people using abortion as birth control.
As for 7:13, you are brainwashed by very bad people who want to keep you dependent on their agenda.
I'm as conservative as they come and I don't care what you do in the privacy of your bedroom. I'm also married to a minority who might be more conservative than I am.
When all the children who are in foster care and orphanages are adopted in this country…
How about you help these kids today! Stop talking and go get a child that needs a home now. No, just keep having babies and add to the number who are unwanted in the USA. Look it up, it’s sad.
534 is an example of a right wing targeted approach to misinformation. What your conspiracy believing right wing message won't explain to you is that abortion is more than a simple mistake. What you don't know is that pregnancy can go wrong and threaten the life of mother. The orange peels abortion ban has had severe negative life threatening consequences but you right wingers really don't care do you?
Look what up 855? You make much more sense arguing as PPP.
Not a single person here has contributed anything meaningful. Nothing but insults. Typically, those that cry censorship have no idea what they're talking about, and are the ones with the hurt feelings, because they can't handle being called out for their nonsense.
Very sad.
Kansas voters should be ashamed.
I hope you saw the article about a warm and fuzzy kitten that was possibly abused at the East Newton high school. That is where our outrage needs to be channeled. For instance, a local dairy conglomerate knocks bull calves in the head with a sledge hammer at birth because there isn't a market for them. Absolutely deplorable. Cutting a viable human being into pieces because it's inconvenient? No problem! It's your right and privilege. The democratic party would own every election, red or blue, if they hadn't been killing off their future voters since 1972.
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