Abortion Capital of the Midwest

For at least five years, Planned Parenthood has been anticipating Roe v. Wade's demise. Church Militant's Kristine Christlieb details the abortion giant's plan for the Midwest — making Illinois its center of influence.

Yamelsie Rodriguez, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood, St. Louis Region: "So we are watching closely, but most importantly, what I want to reassure people is this is not new, and it is something that we have been preparing for." 

Illinois is becoming the abortion hub for the Midwest. The plan has been in the works for at least five years.

Jennifer Welch, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, told The Wall Street Journal: "All our building in the last five years has been with the possibility of a loss of Roe in mind."

In October 2019, Planned Parenthood shut down its abortuary in St. Louis and moved its operation 17 miles east, across the Mississippi River to Fairview Heights, Illinois.

Rodriguez told The New York Times in 2019, "The idea is that we are creating a regional abortion-access hub. In a post-Roe world, this is crucial to our mission."

The Fairview Heights Planned Parenthood abortuary works hand in hand with Hope Clinic, an independent abortuary operation 24 minutes away in Granite City, Illinois. Granite City performs abortions up to the moment of birth.

Angela Michael, director of Small Victories: "Granite City is the Midwest's largest late-term abortion mill here. So many of these abortion facilities such as Planned Parenthood here refer the second and third trimesters over to Granite City."

Together, the two southern Illinois locations have the abortion landscape covered. Illinois abortionists are building out and staffing up for an influx of patients from five bordering states.

Hope Clinic already has a dismal reputation.

Michael:

It's an assembly line inside Hope Clinic, and they just move these women from station to station. And the abortionist only wants to spend seven minutes with these women. The state said they would red-flag any clients that came from Hope Clinic, and they would have to report that. So, of course, Hope Clinic didn't want anyone to know that they were hurting women so they just put them in an ambulance; they hired a private ambulance service to haul them across the river — Abbott. They would pick up these girls and haul them over the river, as soon as we would leave, haul them over the river to Barnes-Jewish.

When women are in a post-abortion emergency at Hope Clinic, ambulances are making a 20-minute drive over a Mississippi River bridge that could be blocked.

When contacted about its relationship with Hope, Abbott Ambulance Inc. would not comment on whether they had a contract with the Granite City abortuary.

Scandalously, Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, a Catholic facility, has referred parents to Hope Clinic for abortion.

John Ryan, sidewalk counselor: "Where did you go? What did they tell you? See if you can get them to tell you."

Michael: "Where did you go? What hospital?"

Parent: "Cardinal Glennon."

Michael: "Cardinal Glennon?"

Women are likely to be treated even more brutally as the number of patients increases at these assembly-line regional hubs. California is playing a role similar to Illinois. Planned Parenthood officials anticipate a major surge in out-of-state patients coming to California.