Planned Parenthood of Illinois will use advanced practice nurses to perform surgical abortions at its Peoria Health Center.
“Advanced practice nurses are what we consider mid level providers, and they've always been utilized to expand care in places where care tends to be scarce,” associate medical director Leslie Moore-Hicks said. “They have always been utilized to be able to be the bridge when you don't have a lot of providers in certain locations or MDs in certain locations.”
APN’s are nurses who have completed graduate-level education and are licensed to practice in their specific role. Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill in January 2023 affirming that APNs and physician assistants can provide abortion care.
The Peoria Health Center will be one of the first clinics to use APNS for procedural abortions.
Moore-Hicks said they rebuilt the clinic to eventually offer surgical abortions. The clinic has offered medication abortions, but procedural abortions haven’t been available since the Whole Women's Health clinic closed in 2019. That changed this week, when the organization announced the procedure would be offered at the Peoria clinic.
Moore-Hicks said both options are safe, but sometimes patients have a preference.
“Some patients choose the procedural route because, whether it's a timing issue, whether, we do notice that some of our patients may come in out of state, or just to get it, just to have it done fast and quick and in a hurry and in a way that they can just go home and return to spaces where they don't have to think about the what's next, or the steps after,” she said.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has seen an influx in patients from out-of-state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. in 2022. Data from the organization showed that they have seen a 47% increase in overall abortion care since the decision. Nearly a quarter of patients have traveled from out of states, compared to 3-5% before 2022.
Moore-Hicks said offering procedural abortion in clinics like Peoria expands access for all patients.
“It just is one extra location that if the location that may be closest to them may not be available, here is another location that offers the services,” she said. “Or even for the patients that live in the Central Illinois region, where they may have had to travel to one of our other locations, the travel may be actually closer for those patients, the travel may actually be more accessible.”
Moore-Hicks said they are taking precautions to ensure safety. The Peoria clinic had to close for more than a year after a firebomb attack in January 2023.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has staff which monitors and handles security.
“Our volunteers are where we take security very seriously,” she said. “Our staff is trained for any and all security measures. And we work very closely with local law enforcement as well. So I think we do a lot from the security perspective in terms of making sure our patients and staff are safe.”
Moore-Hicks said Planned Parenthood will continue to look for strategic opportunities to expand access to abortion services in Illinois. She said they’re listening to patients and work to base decisions on what patients need.
