Most CHOICES patients qualify for financial assistance. Learn more about our Patient Discount Fund HERE.

Abortions

Our Carbondale, IL clinic is now seeing patients. Please call us to make an abortion appointment. Abortion services are not available in Memphis due to a law banning abortions entirely in the state of Tennessee.

You can find confidential, up-to-date information about where to access an abortion at AbortionFinder.org.

The procedural abortion (sometimes called surgical abortion) uses a method called aspiration.

Optional one time, pre-procedural dose of anti-anxiety medication available if you have a driver. IV sedation is also available free of charge.
 
* Patients are required to have a designated driver present prior to the procedure.

Some of the medicines used in the medication abortion may cause serious birth defects if the pregnancy continues. In the unlikely case that the medication does not work, you may need to have additional medication or a procedural (aspiration) abortion to end the pregnancy.

  • Parental involvement is not required in Illinois. If you're younger than 18, you can consent to an abortion and do not have to notify your parents.
  • Illinois does not require you to attend a counseling session or go through a waiting period before getting an abortion.
  • For Tennessee minors (under 18 years old): TN state law requires that CHOICES obtains written, notarized consent from a parent or guardian before making an appointment, providing abortion services in Carbondale, or any financial or logistical support for travel to Carbondale IL. You can get your form notarized with us, or externally. For more information give us a call.

 

Abortion in Illinois is legal until "viability." Viability is the stage of pregnancy when a fetus has developed enough that it is able to survive outside the uterus with medical help. It usually happens around 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy, but it depends on how the fetus is developing and can be different for every pregnancy. A health care provider can determine whether a pregnancy has reached viability.

CHOICES only performs procedural abortions up to 14 weeks and 6 days.

Exceptions that may allow you to get an abortion in Illinois after viability (around 24 to 26 weeks of pregnancy)

  • To save the pregnant person's life
  • To preserve the pregnant person's general health (can include mental health)