
This Wednesday was the scheduled opening of an 18,000 square-foot Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois. The "mega-clinic," located 13 miles from Missouri's last remaining abortion clinic in St. Louis is set to provide both surgical and chemical abortions and will see as many as 11,000 patients annually.
The facility has been under construction for the last year, mostly in secret. Planned Parenthood used a shell company to construct the facility to "avoid protestors and delays." In addition, the abortion clinic was not required to obtain a license from the Department of Public Health, as that requirement was removed with the passage of the Illinois Reproductive Health Act this year.
Since the clinic was announced a few weeks ago, pro-life activists have regularly gathered at the site to pray and to protest the new clinic.