Planned Parenthood leader says doctors fear prosecution for lifesaving abortions

Now that abortions are banned in Missouri, Planned Parenthood doctors in Illinois are seeing a sharp increase in patients, and Missouri doctors have become fearful of performing lifesaving abortions, one of the organization’s top doctors said Tuesday.

The organization has seen appointments triple in southern Illinois since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortions, said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

People are coming to Illinois clinics from states where abortions are illegal, which puts a strain on clinic workers and patients, she said.

“We have people navigating which bill goes unpaid, who can watch their kids, which car do I have that's going to make it the furthest or scouring the internet for the cheapest flight, just access basic health care,” McNicholas said in an interview with St. Louis on the Air.

Before the high court’s decision, patients in Planned Parenthood clinics in the region could receive an abortion within three days. She said now people have to wait about three weeks because appointments are scarce. That puts more stress on the doctors who may have to start working about 12 hours a day or seven days a week to meet the demand, she said.