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Alicia Hurtado of Chicago got the alert Tuesday morning: A person in the region needed an abortion. Could they help?

As a staff member for the Chicago Abortion Fund, an organization that provides resources to people facing barriers to abortion services, Hurtado got to work. Within hours, they and a case manager had plans in motion for the person to get a medication abortion that same day.

The setting for the patient, who Hurtado said was traveling by bus from a state with an abortion ban, was a pop-up mobile health clinic parked in downtown Chicago. It also happened to be located outside the United Center, the site of the Democratic National Convention.

Organizers for the two-day clinic, which wrapped Tuesday, provided not just medication abortions, but also vasectomies. Both services were free to patients who pre-registered for appointments. On both days, the clinic was fully booked.

“I’m glad that this option was at the right place and the right time for our caller, and all of the people who were able to access the services over the two days,” said Hurtado, who helped distribute emergency contraception at the pop-up clinic alongside staff from Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, the St. Louis region affiliate of the national group that hosted the clinic. The affiliate was the first in the country with a mobile unit like this, and it has traveled the region to provide services.

The DNC was not associated with the clinic. Some anti-abortion protestors appeared outside the mobile unit at times, including at least one person with a van offering services they claimed would help people seeking abortions. At least one company that publicly does not support abortions provided diapers.

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, was at the clinic both days. She said organizers knew that tens of thousands of people would be coming from across the country for the DNC, including policymakers and those who influence policy. That offered an opportunity to showcase how Illinois has stepped in to fill abortion care gaps left by other states.

“When you have policies that support scientifically-grounded health care policy, we as providers can be innovative and we can be creative, and we can do more to meet patients where they are,” she said. “And so Illinois in many ways can serve as a model for other states.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, which once guaranteed federal abortion protections, has created a policy landscape where Republicans have severely restricted the procedure or nearly banned it. Patients have had to turn to out-of-state travel or online to obtain abortion pills. In the Midwest, states like Illinois and Minnesota, both led by Democrats, have become access havens.

A total of eight medication abortions and nine vasectomies were provided over the two days, according to Planned Parenthood Great Rivers.

McNicholas said that over the two days, she treated patients for both types of care. Some  traveled long distances to be there

“The mobile unit is here to do what it does best, and do what Planned Parenthood does best, which is to continue to fill gaps and health care for everyday, regular human beings,” she said.

McNicholas also noted that several vasectomy patients expressed wanting the procedure years earlier.

“For many of them, the opportunity to have more accessible and, specifically, more affordable, free health care has really made the difference,” she said.

Abortion access is already expected to be a defining issue in this historic presidential election, with the major parties offering stark policy contrasts on reproductive health. 

Republicans did not highlight abortion during their party convention last month, despite former President Donald Trump crediting his Supreme Court nominees for overturning federal abortion rights in a decision known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. During the first night of the DNC, several women spoke on stage about the roadblocks they faced in seeking abortion care following the ruling.

The issue has motivated other groups in different ways. Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z civic engagement group, distributed condoms at the DNC with a message condemning Project 2025.

Hurtado noted the work they did on Tuesday — connecting a person in need with services — is an everyday reality. Hurtado was at the clinic both days to also offer what they described as post-medication abortion care, a kit that included pads, drug pain management, facemasks and tea.

“We’re constantly connecting the dots of a really complex and ever-changing abortion access landscape,” they said.

There have been mounting demands on organizations like the Chicago Abortion Fund. Hurtado said since the Dobbs decision, the staff has fielded over 25,000 requests for support and distributed over $7.5 million in direct assistance. That has helped cover not just abortions, but costs related to travel, food and childcare needs.

“We’re in this moment of a clear healthcare crisis that is only worsening,” they said.

Hurtado is clear about her resolve to help people. That means building what they described as a “robust infrastructure.”

“We’re focused on building up our capacity as an abortion fund to ensure that nobody is turned away from a clinic, or nobody is put in a position that they can’t even get to a clinic where they’ve made an appointment,” Hurtado said. “That takes a lot of investment, that takes a lot of capacity. But we’re committed to continuing to do that work.”