For more than 80 years, Planned Parenthood has offered contraception, education and health care to Ozarks residents. Since the Springfield clinic was established in 1971, it's performed procedures such as vasectomies, screened women for cervical cancer, diagnosed and treated sexually transmitted diseases, and provided the most up-to-date methods of birth control.
It has never had the ability to provide abortions until now.
Planned Parenthood's Springfield clinic, 626 E. Battlefield Road, can now provide medication abortion for the first time in its history. The clinic is the first in Springfield to perform abortions since the 2005 closure of Springfield Health Care on East Cherry Street, according to previous Springfield News-Leader reporting.
The change comes as a result of the June 18 ruling from Jackson County Circuit Court that struck down several abortion restrictions, which had prevented Missourians from accessing medication abortion in the state since 2018.
Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Dr. Margaret Baum says being able to offer abortions in Springfield is a huge step.
"We know that this is something that is important for access in the state of Missouri as well as for access in the south, even more so now with so many abortion bans throughout the south," Baum said. "Now with our recent ruling, this is possible."
In St. Louis and Illinois Planned Parenthood clinics, Baum has seen patients from all over the South, including from Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Since 2005, Ozarks residents have had to travel up to 4 to 5 hours to receive abortion care, often going to St. Louis or Kansas City. Travel time is a major barrier to care, but there are also additional considerations for many people.
"People have to cross their state or even into another state where abortion is available. They have to take time off work and find childcare. They have to pay for gas, they have to pay for groceries. Maybe they don't have reliable transportation," Baum said. "All of these things increase barriers to care and prevent people from getting safe, effective, evidence-based care that they know they need and that we can provide."
Medication abortion will be available in Springfield when physicians can administer it
Medication abortion won't be available every day in the clinic, since the ruling requires that the medication must be administered by a physician. However, Baum promised they will be making the service as accessible as they can.
"We travel to Springfield all the time ... to do other services, like vasectomies. We know the way to Springfield, so we are working very diligently to provide the care as often as we can within those confines" of the ruling, Baum said.
The process is relatively straightforward, according to Baum, who says abortion is health care. Patients can make an appointment online through Planned Parenthood's website, ppgr.org/book, or they can call 314-531-7526 to make an appointment.
The gestational age will be determined either online or with someone through the call center. Medication abortion appointments are available to patients up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
"If you are in the appropriate gestational age range and Springfield is the closest health center to you, then you will be booked there to make things as easy and convenient for you as possible," Baum said.
From there, patients will come into the clinic, where they receive mifepristone, the first dose of medication abortion. The clinic will supply patients with the second dose of medication, misoprostol, which they can take to complete the abortion where they choose, whether it's the privacy of their own home or somewhere else they feel safe.
Baum also said that with the new service being provided, the clinic has up-to-date security protocols in place to keep everyone safe, "as well as some additional ways to keep folks' identities private, if that's what they want."
No matter who you are or where you come from, Baum said, Planned Parenthood is committed to making abortion care available to you.
"I take care of patients from every community across the state of Missouri. People who are coming from areas that may feel very unfriendly, those patients still need abortion care. I think that's important, from my perspective, to know that we see patients from every political spectrum, every religion," Baum said. "All patients who have the capacity to get pregnant may need an abortion, and we see all those patients. Certainly, there's no judgement — your political beliefs don't come into my care."
Ruling is 'about health of all Missourians'
Abortion being available in Springfield represents more than just a broadening of reproductive freedom in the Ozarks, Baum explained.
"I think this is really historic in the state of Missouri because the voters were really clear in November of 2024 that this is what people want. We have worked tirelessly as an organization to fulfill that promise," she said, referencing Amendment 3, which enshrined abortion-rights protections in the state's constitution. The initiative was approved with 52% voting yes.
Missouri's initial ban on abortion took place after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Minutes after Supreme Court ruling was issued, then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt issued an opinion that activated a "trigger law," which banned legal abortion in all situations but medical emergencies.
However, lawmakers are again putting reproductive rights to a vote. The initiative has the same name — Amendment 3 — but would do the opposite of the 2024 vote by banning nearly all abortions, with limited exceptions for medical emergencies and for survivors of rape and incest. It would also add a ban on gender-affirming care for minors to the constitution, which is already barred under a 2023 state law.
As a state, Missouri lags on many health care issues. A 2025 report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation focusing on health care issues, ranked the state No. 43 in its Scorecard on State Health System Performance. The states that ranked lower then Missouri were Tennessee, Georgia, Nevada, West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi.
According to the scorecard, Missouri sees more deaths from breast cancer, higher infant mortality and higher maternal mortality than the national average.
"In Missouri we, very sadly, are really kind of at the bottom of health care numbers. Missouri's maternal mortality rate is very high, and we know that abortion restrictions are tied to maternal mortality rate," Baum said. "We know that when people can access the care they need, they have healthier, safer lives, families, pregnancies, all of those things. This just isn't about abortion, this is about the health of all Missourians."
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield Planned Parenthood offers medication abortion | Exclusive
