Indies have been the backbone of abortion access for decades. Independent clinics are often in small towns, rural areas, and politically hostile states and often are the only providers in their area. Despite making up only 24% of all facilities offering abortion care, they perform 55% of all abortion procedures nationwide. They are especially vital for care after the first trimester, representing 61% of clinics who offer abortions in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters.
Many of these clinics are more than just abortion providers, and many offer a range of sexual and reproductive health services, including care for transgender and gender-diverse patients. They’re also innovators, and were the first to try telemedicine for abortion services and making sure that abortion access continues even as brick-and-mortar clinics face closures. Even in states where abortion is completely banned, some clinics have found ways to continue supporting their communities by providing ultrasounds, miscarriage management and options counseling — as people have to travel farther and farther from home, access to unbiased and safe reproductive healthcare is more important than ever. In fact, ineedana.com has been tracking clinics that can provide pre- and post- abortion services in restricted states — check out their advanced search.
And another wonderful thing about Indies is how they work closely with abortion funds and practical support organizations to make the complicated process of getting an abortion as smooth as possible. But unlike national health centers like Planned Parenthood, indie clinics often lack the institutional support, visibility and fundraising capacity to keep their doors open.
When independent clinics are forced to close, the impact is devastating. Access to abortion isn’t the only loss — communities lose trusted medical expertise, local jobs, and comprehensive reproductive health services. We even lose the next generation of abortion providers because a lot of these clinics host medical residencies and training programs.
Learn more about Abortion Care Network and how they support independent clinics with their Keep Our Clinics campaign and Communities Need Clinics report.
In the next few months, we'll be launching a new tool to match you with exactly your kind of action: whether it's sharing information on pills by mail, or volunteering locally or online for clinic access and support, or something else, we'll attempt to cover the bases.For now you can securely share your email here, and we'll drop you a note when it's time. We promise it will be right on time.
This website and campaign was built by friends at Shout Your Abortion, Plan C, and I Need An A.
By signing up for the Abortion Mobilization Project, you'll receive a string of emails helping onboard you to the abortion access movement and open opportunities. If you're too pumped to wait, you can check out the content of those emails here.
