Life

Planned Parenthood Unveils Tool Showing Women Nearest Abortion Clinics To Combat Anti-Abortion Legislation

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Planned Parenthood unveiled a tool Tuesday intended to help women find the nearest abortion clinic.

The organization’s Abortion Care Finder allows women to search for a Planned Parenthood clinic where they can obtain an abortion based on their age, their zip code and the first day of their last period.

“The Abortion Care Finder helps people navigate state laws restricting access to abortion — including mandatory waiting periods, gestational limits, and parental notification and/or consent laws — and shows how these medically unnecessary rules personally and specifically impact them,” said a Tuesday press release from Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Some states restrict young girls from obtaining an abortion if they are under a certain age, and other states have also placed restrictions on abortions after the unborn baby has reached a certain age. For example, Louisiana state abortion laws prevent abortions on or around 20 weeks, and minors in the state must have written parental consent to obtain an abortion, according to Planned Parenthood.

The Abortion Care Finder refers a woman to an interactive map from the National Abortion Federation that includes independent abortion providers if there is not a Planned Parenthood clinic within 60 miles, The New York Times reported. This map from the National Abortion Federation provides more details on state abortion laws and where women can find abortion clinics.

“View nearby Planned Parenthood health centers that provide abortion care and get the information you need to schedule an appointment,” the Abortion Care Finder’s description says.

WATCH:

We’re excited to announce the launch of our Abortion Care Finder. With this tool, patients can view their closest Planned Parenthood health centers that provide abortion care, and get the information they need to schedule an appointment: https://t.co/tu9S59uwRP pic.twitter.com/Z1f4Fj8mlI

— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) November 12, 2019

Planned Parenthood Acting President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said that Planned Parenthood’s patients have become desperate for information on abortions as restrictive abortion legislation is put in place throughout the U.S.

“Restrictions have just been coming so fast and furious,” McGill Johnson told the Times.

McGill Johnson blamed the Trump administration “and other politicians” for attempting to “create a reality in which safe and legal abortion services are out of reach.”

“As politicians are increasingly trying to keep people from accessing care or even information related to their sexual and reproductive health, it’s our duty to ensure people can still access health care and accurate, trustworthy information — no matter what,”  McGill Johnson said in a statement.

Ambreen Molitor, senior director of Planned Parenthood’s Digital Products Lab, added that the organization is continually looking for ways to reach people with information on abortion, saying in a statement that “like all of Planned Parenthood’s digital tools, the Abortion Care Finder was built by listening to the people we serve and evaluating how visitors use our website, so we can get people the information they want and need to make their own health care decisions as clearly and easily as possible.”

Planned Parenthood Southeast also set up an automated phone line in May after Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill banning abortions an unborn baby’s heartbeat could be detected, the publication reported. The phone line assured callers that abortion was still legal in Georgia.