Planned Parenthood shuts down in Louisiana over "political warfare"
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Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is closing its two Louisiana facilities by Sept. 30, its CEO says. Photo: Michael Paulsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
Planned Parenthood will close its two Louisiana clinics and shut down all services by Sept. 30, the organization announced Monday.
Why it matters: The nonprofit sexual health provider has for 40 years provided low- and no-cost primary care, preventative screenings and tests, and treatment and counseling for sexually transmitted infections.
The big picture: Planned Parenthood's national organization warned in July that, with its Medicaid funding on the chopping block in President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, about 60% of its subsidiaries were likely to close.
- Trump's efforts to "defund Planned Parenthood" have hit a snag in the courts, but the Gulf Coast branch of the organization announced two weeks ago that it would shut down two of its Houston clinics and transfer its remaining four to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, Houston Public Media reports.
- The closure of the organization's remaining facilities — one in New Orleans and another in Baton Rouge — are "a direct result of relentless political assaults," according to a statement from Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast CEO Melaney Linton.
What they're saying: "This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare," Linton continued.
- "We are not the first Planned Parenthood affiliate to face this reality, and we will not be the last," she said. "Every health center closure, every patient who goes without care, every undetected cancer and untreated infection is on those lawmakers' hands."
By the numbers: While the organization has become a conservative political target for the access it provides to abortion services, Planned Parenthood has long provided additional sexual health care.
- The organization, for example, provided more than 10,600 visits for nearly 18,000 patients in Louisiana last year, a spokeswoman tells Axios New Orleans.
- They accounted for nearly 30,000 STI tests, 655 ultrasounds and 1,795 cancer screenings and prevention services, which identified 76 diagnoses of precancerous conditions, according to the spokeswoman.
- The Louisiana clinics also provided more than 14,000 birth control visits, including nearly 4,200 vasectomies.
Go deeper
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- Report: Alarming HIV infection increase in New Orleans teens
- New Orleans students to get new sex ed program
- 56% of new moms miss postpartum checkups
- Louisiana's pregnant patients face riskier procedures and delayed care, report says
- 75% of Louisiana's rural hospitals don't have maternity care