Attendees at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago will have the opportunity to get a free abortion or vasectomy just blocks away from the event — and vasectomy appointments are filling up fast.
Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, which serves most of Missouri and part of southern Illinois, is sending a mobile health center to the Windy City’s West Loop to offer the reproductive services on Monday and Tuesday.
Medication abortions are reportedly available on both days, with vasectomies being exclusively offered Monday, according to The New York Times.
Vasectomies are reportedly in high demand and there’s already a waiting list.
“There are going to be people traveling to Chicago from all over the country,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers told the paper. “And I think we should be doing what we can as health care providers to show what the impact of good policy and bad policy is.”
The services will be provided “on a sliding-fee scale — pay what you can and get the health care you need,” according to the appointment reservation form, which only requires a name, date of birth and basic contact information.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be nominated as the Democratic presidential nominee at the convention, has been outspoken in her support for abortion rights after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had federally protected abortion access for half a century.
Abortion has become one of the integral parts of Harris’ campaign after several states passed their own strict abortion bans since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022.
Harris has called abortion one of America’s “fundamental freedoms,” according to a White House release announcing her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” in December.
Unlike previous years, abortion is expecting to be a front and center issue for Democrats at the convention, according to The Times.
“There’s a direct through line between what Donald Trump did and loss of access to abortion care,” said Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood. “That’s one of the reasons why people are seeing this in a kind of completely different frame than they were even just four years ago.”
In addition to the mobile clinic, another group, Americans for Contraception, plans to erect an 18-foot-tall inflatable intrauterine device, or IUD, named “Freeda Womb,” The Times reported. Other activists are planning a “Hotties for Harris” party, in addition to a number of other events.
Meanwhile, businesses in downtown Chicago have started boarding up their doors and windows in anticipation of thousands of anti-Israeli protesters that have planned to take over the city streets during the convention.
