Iowa Residents Could Travel To Illinois If Abortion Ban Approved

ILLINOIS — Iowa patients looking for abortion services will need to travel, likely to Illinois, if and when Iowa's fetal heartbeat abortion ban takes effect. The Quad-City Times reports there are two family planning facilities in Illinois that offer medication or non-surgical abortions to patients up to nine weeks after the start of their last menstrual period, in addition to a center that offers surgical abortion services.

According to Quad City Times, Planned Parenthood of Illinois operates clinics in Peoria and Ottawa, each of which offers medication, or non-surgical, abortions to patients up to nine weeks after the start of their last menstrual period.

Planned Parenthood's Aurora Health Center is the closest site to Iowa and will perform in-clinic, or surgical abortions, up to a certain period during a person's second trimester, Quad-City Times says.

If you're looking for a location that's closer to Iowa, there aren't any plans to open a new one, according to the news report.

The Iowa legislation wouldn't go into effect into July 1, but bans abortions once a fetus' heartbeat can be detected, which is usually around the six-week mark, Quad-City Times says.

With this new law, the University of Iowa would not be able to give comprehensive family planning training for its obstetrics and gynecology residents, which will jeopardize its accreditation with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education due to the inability to meet training requirements.

Iowa's attorney general said Tuesday he won't defend the state in legal challenges to what would be the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Both the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America have filed challenges to the new law.

Over in Indiana, an abortion services-related law, which would require medical providers who treat women for complications arising from abortions to report detailed patient information to the state, is also set to take effect on July 1.

More: qctimes.com

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