Planned Parenthood announced plans to reopen a health center and expand telehealth in Louisiana Wednesday (June 24).
The nonprofit health care organization’s two health centers in the state shut down in September due to what Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast CEO Melaney Linton called “relentless political assaults.”
But in a statement, Planned Parenthood Great Plains says it plans to restart in-person care in New Orleans this fall. Telehealth is expected to start later this summer.
“ Louisiana has significant health disparities when it comes to access to providers, and there are historically under-resourced investments in public health infrastructure in the state,” Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO Emily Wales said in an interview with WWNO. “It's not unlike what we've seen in our other states, where you have politicians who are prioritizing other things — or certainly political gains — over investing in their constituents accessing healthcare.
“So to the extent we know patients don't have a big enough safety net, [or] there aren't enough providers who want to do sexual and reproductive care, especially when there are low reimbursement rates from insurers or from Medicaid. We know there are often not enough providers who do this work, and that's why we want to offer those critical services.”
Services at the New Orleans location will include contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, pregnancy testing, perimenopause and menopause care, vasectomies, cancer screenings and other preventive health services.
Wales said for many at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, being able to reopen in Louisiana hits close to home — literally.
“ I think for our team, especially our staff members in Arkansas, this feels really personal,” she said. “Getting to expand and support communities in Louisiana is not hypothetical or remote. We already see patients from Louisiana who've been forced across state lines to access abortion care, in particular, who are coming to states like Kansas and now Missouri as it's working to restore care.
“For our staff members who live in a state with a total abortion ban or who know what it is to have government interfere directly with their care, getting to be part of a network where we see patients, we support them and we reassure them that your healthcare decisions are your own, and we just want you to be healthy and safe, that's really meaningful.”
Louisiana has a total abortion ban, and Planned Parenthood was never licensed to perform abortions in the state. However, it did help patients access out-of-state abortion care.
Wales is still anticipating the same political pushback that caused Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to close.
“ I'm realistic that there are likely to be some headwinds, and also that Planned Parenthood patients have been a political target as people think about running for office or think about maybe what speaks to a base of anti-abortion supporters,” she said. “That's not your everyday Louisiana individual. People want access to care. They want to have care that is confidential, that is high quality and provided with dignity, and that's exactly what we do.”
In response to the announcement, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill emphasized in a statement that abortions remain illegal in Louisiana, “including any attempt by activists to facilitate the trafficking of dangerous and illegal pills through the mail or via ‘telehealth.’”
