This story was originally published by Louisiana Illuminator
After the Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts led its two Louisiana clinics to close last fall, Planned Parenthood intends to open a clinic in New Orleans later this year and will expand telehealth services in the state starting later this summer.
The Planned Parenthood Great Plains network will announce Wednesday it’s adding Louisiana to its coverage area that already includes Arkansas, Kansas, western Missouri and Oklahoma.
According to Emily Wales, Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO, Louisiana patients have traveled to some of its 13 existing clinics for care and services that she said are increasingly difficult to find back home.
“When we took a hard look at the patients who had been coming to Planned Parenthood [in Louisiana] and the lack of resources for those patients trying to find other providers, we knew that there was a gap we could fill,” Wales said in an interview.
Services that Planned Parenthood intends to provide from the New Orleans clinic include contraception, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, gender-affirming care, pregnancy testing, perimenopause and menopause care, vasectomies, cancer screenings and other preventive care. The organization currently provides some telehealth services in Louisiana through its online platform, Planned Parenthood Director.
The new clinic will not provide abortion services though it will provide support for patients who want to travel to states where the procedure is legal, Wales said.
“They do still fortunately have a constitutionally protected right to travel, and Louisianians should have every kind of support, whether it’s from Planned Parenthood, abortion funds, friends and family in other states to get out of state and access care that is legal in other states,” she said.
Planned Parenthood will secure a “high-quality building space” in New Orleans for its new clinic, Wales said, but she would not disclose whether it would be the former clinic site on South Claiborne Avenue or a different location. She said she expects to announce the site by late August or early September once the local staff is hired and begins training.
The Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast affiliate operated clinics in New Orleans and Baton Rouge that closed Sept. 30. Its national parent organization said federal funding cuts and a drop in donations forced it to shutter 50 to 70 locations nationwide last year.
Anti-abortion groups pressured the Trump administration to pull Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood, despite rules that already prohibit the government’s health insurance program for low-income citizens from covering the cost of pregnancy termination procedures.
Louisiana leaders welcomed the closure of Planned Parenthood’s clinics last year, with Gov. Jeff Landry calling it a “major win for the pro-life movement” in the state.
Attorney General Liz Murrill has sought to enforce the state’s strict abortion ban and a separate law against mailing abortion drugs to Louisiana. She’s called for Congress to override other states’ shield laws that have prevented her from extraditing and prosecuting doctors who have prescribed the medication through telehealth consultations.
Murrill has also sued the Food and Drug Administration to end its telehealth policy that lets doctors prescribe abortion drugs without an in-person doctor’s visit. The U.S. Supreme Court has kept the rule in place while the lawsuit unfolds.
Wales said Planned Parenthood is prepared for any obstacles conservative officials might place in its path to opening a Louisiana clinic, including litigation if necessary.
“We have fought constitutional fights. We have pushed for state legislators to do better, and we’re going to bring that same energy to Louisiana,” Wales said. “Because at the end of the day, no one should be celebrating that there are fewer providers in the safety net, and fewer places for people to access lifesaving care.”
Wales and Dr. Iman Alsaden, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said they do not think Louisiana’s reproductive healthcare environment will impact their ability to staff the New Orleans clinic.
“Threats and horrors that are persisting every day in our country are really kind of, I think, forcing a lot of people to look at their lives and careers and say, ‘You know, maybe I can channel my work into something that would really help these people that are being persecuted for no reason,’” Alsaden said.
Planned Parenthood is announcing its return to Louisiana a day before the fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which allowed states to outlaw abortion.
This is a developing story.