Illinois health care providers are bracing for more patients after Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin paused abortions last week. Local organizations like Planned Parenthood of Illinois have said they anticipate an uptick in out-of-state patients and are preparing to meet the increased demand.

While Planned Parenthood of Illinois is also affected by Medicaid reimbursement cuts, President and CEO Adrienne White-Faines said the organization is not planning to make any changes to services in Illinois.

Two bills aimed at further protecting reproductive rights in Illinois were signed by Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday, expanding protections to health care providers and making contraception and medication abortion more accessible to college students.

Texas Democrats gathered with Planned Parenthood affiliate leaders Wednesday in Chicago to highlight Illinois’ role in providing reproductive care for Texas patients and to warn how the dismantling of sexual and reproductive care in Texas threatens access in other states.

A provision in Trump’s tax bill instructed the federal government to end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, even to those like Planned Parenthood that offer other medical services.

Sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies are particularly common for college-aged people. A 2023 report from the CDC found that nearly half of all reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were among people aged 15 to 24.

Nearly 30,000, or more than 40%, of Planned Parenthood of Illinois patients use Medicaid to access health care services at Planned Parenthood’s health centers, according to the organization.

The bill, passed late last week and signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, will bar Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services.

Congress on Thursday passed President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which the president is expected to sign into law. The tax and spending plan cuts federal funding for services such as food aid and Medicaid, as well as Planned Parenthood.

It’s a wrap on the most recent term for the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices delivered a slew of decisions on cases ranging from birthright citizenship to funding for Planned Parenthood.

In an effort to minimize patient disruptions, Planned Parenthood of Illinois leaders said they plan to expand patient care at other locations as needed and through the PPDirect app.

Cecile Richards served as president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, helping boost the profile of an organization long criticized by conservatives and anti-abortion activists who have called on the government to strip its funding.

In the spring of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the longstanding abortion protections established under Roe v. Wade, leaving decisions about the reproductive health care procedure up to the states. For Hoosier Abbey Hall, she never imagined such a change would impact her.

A major reason for the increase is that some Democratic-controlled states enacted laws to protect doctors who use telemedicine to see patients in places that have abortion bans, according to the quarterly #WeCount report for the Society of Family Planning, which supports abortion access.

An increasing number of people are coming to Illinois in search of abortion care in the two years since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling. 

Three-quarters of the patients served by the Carbondale clinic have come from out of state, the organization said in numbers released Monday. Of those out of state patients, 88% reside in states where abortion access is restricted, including Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri.