A year after Roe v. Wade ended, Metro East providers expect more abortion challenges

One year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which for five decades legalized the right to abortions nationwide. Within minutes of the high court’s decision, Missouri officials banned the procedure, and several states in the South and Midwest soon followed suit.

Since the high court’s ruling last June, clinics in the Metro East that offer abortions have become a destination for thousands of patients seeking the procedure. In the months after the decision, a report found the number of abortions performed in Illinois increased more than 30%.

Planned Parenthood’s Fairview Heights clinic has increased its workforce and hours to try to keep up with increased patient loads. St. Louis Public Radio’s Sarah Fentem asked Kawanna Shannon, Planned Parenthood's director of patient access, and Dr. Colleen McNicholas, its chief medical officer, what the organization's Fairview Heights clinic has seen in the past year.