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​1. There are only 6 abortion clinics in the entire state of Indiana.

This means some women must drive more than three hours to receive abortion care. Distance creates an additional barrier for women who need care, especially when you consider other possible factors such as the cost of gas, arranging for a ride, scheduling childcare, or taking time off work, among others.

2. Political interference should not stand in the way of a woman’s access to safe abortion care.

Politicians like Mike Pence continue to push prohibitive legislation that prevents women from accessing the abortion care they need. Indiana is classified as “extremely hostile” to abortion rights, having passed new laws in recent years to burden women seeking abortion and force clinics to close. In 2014, some 95 percent of Indiana counties had no clinics that provided abortion care and 66 percent of Indiana women lived in those counties. Indiana now has only six clinics open to serve women in the state, dropping from 10 in 2011.

3. When women are denied the ability to choose what will happen to her body, they lose freedom.

Denying women the right to choose an abortion is a slippery slope to denial of other care including birth control, emergency contraception, and even proper prenatal care. When women can choose what happens to their bodies and when, they can also choose what’s right for their futures, their families, and themselves.

4. South Bend deserves the best in medicine, including the full range of reproductive health options for women.

“Whole Woman’s Health will provide access to services crucial to women’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being, thus filling a critical gap in reproductive health care in the South Bend community. When we deny a woman the ability to choose what will happen to her body, we take away her freedom to make decisions that are best for her and her family. We must ensure the rights of our community members to have a child, not have a child, and to parent children in a safe and healthy environment. If we focus only on the former, we perpetuate reproductive injustice at the expense of women, children, and families in our community.”

-Carmella Vizza, Leader of Indivisible Indiana District 2

5. Whole Woman’s Health and Whole Woman’s Health Alliance provides abortion care with dignity, respect, and compassion.

We are a group of women’s clinics providing comprehensive gynecology services, including abortion care. We are committed to destigmatizing abortion and creating safe spaces for all people, whether it’s within our clinics or in the communities where they live.

6. Each woman should be at the center of her own healthcare decisions.

We trust women to make decisions for themselves and their families. We are here to support them in what can often be a challenging time in their lives. It is our philosophy that each woman must be at the center of her own healthcare decisions, and we are proud to be a woman-owned, woman-centered, progressive business.

7. Treating each patient individually will better serve women and improve women’s health and happiness in communities where there is access to quality care.

It is our philosophy that treating each woman holistically — honoring her head, heart, and body — will better serve women and improve women’s health and happiness in our wider communities. We enter communities where we are needed the most, and we strive to raise the standard of care by offering compassionate, quality care, while also working to remove barriers to reproductive care.

8. When women have control of their healthcare, society wins.

It has been proven over many years that when women have access to birth control, the economy and the job market thrive. Results are similar when women have access to abortion care – they are able to plan their futures, which determines how they participate in society. When women have a choice of when or if they want to become a parent, they can also make choices about higher education, careers, travel, etc.

9. Whole Woman’s Health Alliance is dedicated to eradicating shame and stigma surrounding abortion care.

We remain to be a strong advocate and community pillar wherever we have clinics, becoming the voice of women’s reproductive justice in many communities where the state has attacked the women’s healthcare system, by decimating it and creating an environment that forces women to potentially take desperate measures. We pride ourselves in eradicating the stigma surrounding abortion as well as ensuring that all women have safe, affordable access to abortion care.

10. Good women have abortions.

The people we serve come from all walks of life – from young college students to teenagers to professional women to stay at home moms; from religious folks and spiritual people to women struggling to figure out what they believe; from women with insurance to women who have no health care safety net and need financial support. The fact is, there is not just one kind of woman who has an abortion. Abortion is a normal part of women’s reproductive lives and nearly 40% of American women will have an abortion by the age of 45. We understand that no one gets pregnant to have an abortion. We also understand that facing an unplanned pregnancy and choosing abortion involves all the big things in women’s lives – examination of identity, life, death, sex, religion, family; your dreams and your aspirations.