After the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned in 2022, LaDonna Prince, the owner of Affirmative Care Solutions, made the difficult decision to relocate her abortion clinic from Indiana to Illinois. Indiana, once her home base, quickly enacted a ban on abortion, pushing Prince to seek refuge in neighboring Illinois, where abortion is still legally protected. But despite moving to a state where abortion is legal, Prince quickly learned that the shift wasn’t as simple as crossing a state line.
Illinois has earned its reputation as a critical access point for women seeking abortions, especially from states that have either banned or heavily restricted abortion access. The state’s willingness to offer sanctuary to those in need has made it a refuge for many seeking reproductive care. For Prince, moving her clinic to Danville, a small town in Illinois, seemed like an ideal solution. It’s just an hour away from her previous location, making it convenient for her dedicated staff and for patients who were already facing increasing barriers to care in the wake of Roe‘s dismantling.
However, despite Illinois’ legal protections, Prince has encountered significant challenges in opening her new clinic in Danville. These hurdles have shed light on an uncomfortable truth for abortion providers: even in states where abortion remains legal, the local community’s reception to such services can make or break a clinic’s ability to function. As Prince discovered, the politics of a town and the hostility of some members of the community can create an oppressive environment that hampers progress and threatens to silence the providers working within it.
Danville, with its predominantly conservative political climate, was far from welcoming. In May 2023, after construction on Prince’s new clinic had already begun, the local city council passed an anti-abortion ordinance. Although this measure had no legal teeth state law supersedes local ordinances it made it clear to Prince that the community was not supportive of her efforts. This animosity was not confined to government bodies alone. Local contractors, unwilling to work on an abortion clinic, backed out of their contracts, making it almost impossible for the clinic to move forward.
The situation became even more dire when the clinic site suffered a violent attack. In a horrifying incident, a local man drove his car into the clinic building and attempted to set it on fire. The damage from this act of violence amounted to half a million dollars, further delaying the clinic’s opening.
Prince’s experience reflects a broader and troubling reality for abortion providers in post-Dobbs America: while abortion rights may be protected in certain states, the local political climate and community support (or lack thereof) can have an outsized impact on a clinic’s viability. Even in Illinois, which has become a key destination for those seeking abortion services, clinics are not immune to the forces of local opposition.
The situation in Danville mirrors the broader struggle faced by abortion providers across the country. Since the Dobbs decision, which gave individual states the power to determine their abortion policies, many states have imposed harsh restrictions or outright bans, resulting in the closure of dozens of independent abortion clinics. The Abortion Care Network reported that at least 76 independent clinics have shut down since the decision, with nearly half of those closures occurring in states where abortion is still legal, including Illinois.
In some ways, Prince’s ordeal highlights the complex and evolving landscape of abortion access in America. Clinics are now caught between legal protections at the state level and the harsh realities of local opposition. “Local support has always been important to abortion access,” said Brittany Fonteno, CEO of the National Abortion Federation. “Post-Dobbs, this support has become even more crucial.”
As Prince’s clinic remains closed nearly a year after it was supposed to open, it serves as a stark reminder of the deep divides that persist even in states that have made abortion legal. The work of providing access to reproductive care has never been more difficult, and those who choose to step into this space are often faced with not just legal obstacles but emotional and physical ones as well.
In the midst of these challenges, the resilience of abortion providers like LaDonna Prince stands as a testament to the ongoing fight for reproductive rights. But as long as hostility and violence continue to threaten their work, the journey toward providing safe, legal, and accessible care remains an uphill battle even in states that have vowed to protect it.
