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Some of you may have already heard that Planned Parenthood’s Champaign Health Center is no longer offering surgical abortions. This is true, and “Doin’ It Well” wanted to set the record straight, as we have also heard some rumors about what is currently available in our community and what prompted these changes.

What’s the Story?

We caught up with Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL) to get the facts. Here’s what we received: “On March 5, 2009, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion confirming that Illinois law permits physician assistants (PAs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs) supervised by a licensed physician to dispense and prescribe medication used to induce abortion (also known as the abortion pill or Med AB) in early pregnancy to patients. This decision will dramatically increase access to reproductive health care for women in Illinois, and PPIL is exploring opportunities to utilize this opinion to expand access to abortion services. After thoughtful consideration, we are making several changes to our abortion services as a result of the attorney general’s ruling and financial considerations of the agency.

In Champaign, we will be discontinuing surgical abortion but will be offering Med AB to our clients. For those needing or requesting a surgical abortion, we will refer them to our Aurora Health Center. Aurora will continue to offer both medication and surgical abortions. Over the next several years, our goal is to expand Med AB to one to two health centers a year in order to meet the reproductive health care needs of women throughout the entire state.”

What’s the Difference?

A medical abortion is brought about by taking medications that will end a pregnancy. It does not require a health care provider to enter the uterus with instruments and can therefore be safer and gentler for the woman. Medical abortion is 90 to 96 percent effective and can be complete in a couple of days or up to six weeks. The woman follows up with her health care provider after the abortion to be sure that it worked and that she is well. In the event that a medical abortion has not worked, a woman will need to have a surgical abortion. Medical abortions can be performed as soon as a pregnancy is confirmed, and the medications work the best the earlier they are taken. Due to this, medical abortions are not usually an option after nine weeks of pregnancy.

Surgical abortions, on the other hand, can be performed between four and 24 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the provider and the services offered. Surgical abortion ends a pregnancy by using instruments to empty the uterus.

What’s This Mean for Our Community?

Many of us get nervous when services get cut. Especially when it comes to reproductive health choices, particularly during a time of budget crisis, we wonder which populations will be hit the hardest by these decisions. In a statement from Beth Kanter, senior vice president of external affairs for Planned Parenthood, we learned that despite the change in services, the number of abortions provided has remained consistent. She told us, “We continue to offer medication abortions (up to nine weeks) at [our Champaign Health Center] ... Surgical abortions are still available at our health centers in Aurora and in the city of Chicago at 1200 N. LaSalle. In addition to medication abortions, our Champaign Health Center offers comprehensive reproductive health care services for women, men and teens, including birth control and emergency contraception, routine gynecological exams, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, HIV testing and counseling, HPV vaccine, pregnancy testing and breast and cervical cancer screening. The health center is open six days a week, Monday through Saturday. Appointments can be requested online at http://ppil.org or by [phone].”

The overall goal for Planned Parenthood is to more efficiently and cost-effectively provide needed pregnancy termination services in more communities across the state. So while this may feel like a cut to our area, hopefully this decision will allow for medical abortion services to be offered in communities that currently do not have any local options for abortion, or at least not from Planned Parenthood. In Champaign-Urbana, surgical abortions are still available at Women’s Health Practice.

Correction!

In your article [“Do the Right Thing,” 7.2.09], you state, “One in five Americans has HSV.” It would be more accurate to say one in five Americans has genital herpes. About 50 to 80 percent of the adult population of the U.S. has oral herpes [also HSV]. Type 1 or type 2 can occur in either area. I endorse your use of the http://ashastd.org Web site, from which my information comes. Thanks. P. Murdoch, A.P.N.

Thanks for reading “Doin’ It Well,” catching this and helping us clarify for our readers. It takes a village to keep us all “Doin’ It Well”!

Stay tuned next week as we explore reproductive rights and justice for all.