Insights from AP report on new abortion clinic in rural southeast Kansas

PITTSBURG, Kansas. – A new abortion clinic has brought the debate over reproductive rights to a small college town in southeast Kansas, one of the few states in the region where abortion is still legal.

A religious, Republican-leaning, semi-rural town like Pittsburg, Kansas, would have been unlikely to host an abortion clinic before the Roe v. Wade decision was overturned in 2022. But that is changing across the country.

The Associated Press reported on the new clinic and the city's response. Here are the key findings.

Border states become centers for access to abortion

Over the past two years, Kansas was among the five states where many people were most likely to travel to get an abortion if their state did not offer the procedure, says Caitlin Myers, an economics professor at Middlebury College who researches abortion policy.

According to a recent analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion rights, the number of abortions in Kansas increased by 152 percent after Roe.

According to Myers' calculations, six of the clinics in Kansas, Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia that opened or relocated under Roe are in communities with fewer than 25,000 residents. Two more are in communities with fewer than 50,000 residents.

Voters in Kansas protected abortion rights

Five weeks after the Roe decision was overturned, voters in Kansas had to decide whether to remove the right to abortion from the state constitution, which could have led to an outright ban.

Pittsburg is in Crawford County, where 55% of voters were among the 59% of voters statewide who rejected the proposal. But rural counties surrounding Pittsburg voted for the change.

Kansas' statewide percentage is in line with a 2024 Associated Press/NORC poll that found that six in 10 Americans believe their state should generally allow a person to have a legal abortion if they do not want to become pregnant for any reason.

In Kansas, abortions are generally legal up to the 22nd week of pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood has turned away people in Kansas

The new abortion clinic is operated by Planned Parenthood Great Plains and is located just a short drive from the Missouri border and less than an hour from Oklahoma.

All other abortion clinics in Kansas are in larger metropolitan areas where clinics have extended their hours – but appointments are still in short supply. About 60 to 65 percent of women who call Planned Parenthood's Kansas clinics to schedule an abortion are turned away because there isn't enough capacity, says Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

Most women seeking abortions in Kansas come from out of state — primarily Texas, about a five-hour drive south, Wales said. She added that some come from as far away as Louisiana or even Florida, where the procedure is now banned after the sixth week of pregnancy.

Small towns can be inviting – or not

Experts say smaller clinics are less overwhelming for women in rural areas like the Pittsburgh area, but anonymity is often lacking in these places, where religious and family ties often run deep.

Pittsburg is home to a state university with about 7,400 students. The city is also increasingly religious, with twice the number of white evangelical Protestants than the national average, and the area is increasingly Republican.

Pittsburg State University students The Associated Press spoke to support the clinic, as do many Democrats in the city.

But churches in Pittsburgh are training people how to protest outside abortion clinics, and Vie Medical Clinic, a crisis pregnancy center, is seeing an increase in donations.

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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.

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The Associated Press Health and Science section receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.