Many clinics that provide #abortion are closing, even where it’s still #legal
#PlannedParenthood of #Michigan is giving up on 4 of its #health centers, citing #financial challenges.
Including the one in #Marquette, the only clinic that provided abortion in the vast… #UpperPeninsula. For the ~1,100 patients who visited the clinic each year for anything from #cancer screenings to #contraception implants, the next-closest Planned Parenthood will now be a ~5-hr drive south.
It's part of a growing trend: At least 17 clinics closed last year in states where #abortion remains #legal, & another 17 have closed in just the first 5 months of this year, acc/to data gathered by ineedana.com. That includes states that have become abortion destinations, like #Illinois, & those where voters have enshrined broad #ReproductiveRights into the #StateConstitution, like #Michigan.
Experts say the closures indicate that #financial & operational challenges, rather than future #legal bans, may be the biggest threats to #abortion access in states whose #laws still protect it.
"These states that we have touted as being really the best kind of versions of our vision for #ReproductiveJustice, they too struggle w/problems," said Erin Grant, a co-exec dir of the #AbortionCare Network, a national membership org for independent clinics.
"It's gotten more #expensive to provide #care, it's gotten more #dangerous to provide care, & it's just gotten, frankly, harder to provide care, when you're expected to be in the clinic & then on the statehouse steps, & also speaking to your representatives & trying to find somebody who will fix your roof or paint your walls who's not going to insert their opinion about #health care rights."
#ReproductiveRights #abortion #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism
If a clinic could survive the fall of #RoeVWade, "you would think that resilience could carry you forward," said Brittany Fonteno, president & CEO of the National #Abortion Federation.
But #clinic operators say they face new #financial strain, including rising #costs, limited reimbursement rates & growing demand for #telehealth services.
#ReproductiveRights #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism
Clinics are also bracing for the #Trump admin to again exclude them from #TitleX, the federal #funding for low- & no-cost #FamilyPlanning services, as the previous Trump admin did in 2019.
#PlannedParenthood of #Michigan (#PPMI) says the cuts are painful but necessary for the organization's long-term sustainability.
#ReproductiveRights #abortion #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism
#PlannedParenthood of #Illinois (a state that has become a post #RoeVWade #abortion destination) shuttered 4 clinics in March, pointing to a "#financial shortfall."
Planned Parenthood of Greater #NewYork is now selling its only #Manhattan clinic, after closing 4 clinics elsewhere in the state last summer due to "compounding financial & #political challenges."
#ReproductiveRights #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism
#PlannedParenthood Association of #Utah, where courts have blocked a near-total #abortion ban and where abortion is currently legal until 18 weeks of pregnancy, announced it will close 2 centers in May.
This spring, the #Trump admin began temporarily freezing funds to many clinics, including all #TitleX providers in #California, #Hawaii, #Maine, #Mississippi, #Missouri, #Montana & Utah, according to a KFF analysis.
#ReproductiveRights #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism #USpol
While the current #TitleX freeze doesn't yet include #PlannedParenthood of #Michigan, #PPMI's chief advocacy officer, Ashlea Phenicie, said it would amount to a loss of about $5.4 million annually, or 16% of its budget.
PPMI didn't shut down any clinics the last time the #Trump admin froze its Title X #funding. …because the funding was stopped for only about 2 years, 2019–2021, when #Biden restored it.
#ReproductiveRights #abortion #medicine #economy #inflation #recession #extremism #USpol
At the same time, the rise of #telehealth #abortion has put “new pressures in the older-school, brick-&-mortar facilities,”said Caitlin Myers, a Middlebury College economics professor who maps brick-&-mortar abortion clinics across the US.
Until a few years ago, doctors could prescribe abortion pills only in person. Those restrictions were lifted during the pandemic, but it was the #Dobbs decision in 2022 that really "accelerated expansions in telehealth,”Myers said.
Suddenly, new #online providers entered the field, advertising virtual consultations & pills shipped directly to your home. And plenty of #patients who still have #access to a brick-&-mortar clinic prefer that option. "Put more simply, it’s gotta change their [#PlannedParenthood] business model," she said.
#ReproductiveRights #abortion #medicine #health #law #economy #inflation #recession #extremism #USpol
Meanwhile, more clinics & #abortion funds say #patients have delayed #care because of those rising #costs. According to a small Nov-Dec 2024 survey of providers & funds conducted by ineedana.com, "85% of clinics reported seeing an increase of clients delaying care due to lack of #funding."
One abortion fund said the number of patients who've had to delay care until their second trimester "has grown by over 60%" spanning 6 months in 2024.
Even when non-#abortion services like #birthcontrol & cervical #cancer screenings are covered by #insurance, clinics aren't always reimbursed for the full cost, Thornton Greear said.
"The reality is that insurance reimbursement rates across the board are low," she said. "It's been that way for a while. When you start looking at the costs to run a #healthcare organization, from supply #costs, etc, when you layer on these #funding impacts, it creates a chasm that's impossible to fill."
Yet, unlike some independent clinics that had to close, #PlannedParenthood's national federation brings in hundreds of millions of dollars a year, the majority of which is spent on #policy & #legal efforts rather than state-level #medical services.
The org & some of its state affiliates have also battled allegations of mismanagement, & complaints about staffing & patient care. PPMI staffers in 5 clinics #unionized last year, w/some citing problems in mgmt, #workplace & #care conditions.
#PlannedParenthood of #Michigan responded to most comments w/the same statement & pointed patients to #telehealth in the #clinic's absence:
"Please know that closing #health centers wasn't a choice that was made lightly, but one forced upon us by the escalating attacks against sexual & reproductive health providers like Planned Parenthood. We are doing everything we can to protect as much #access to #care as possible. We know you're sad & angry—we are, too.
"We know that #telehealth cannot bridge every gap; however, the majority of the services #PPMI provides will remain available via the Virtual Health Center & PP Direct, including #MedicationAbortion, #birthcontrol, #HIV services, #UTI treatment, emergency #contraception, #gender-affirming care, & yeast infection treatment. Learn more at ppmi.org/telehealth."
#ReproductiveRights #abortion #medicine #WomensHealth #health #law #economy #inflation #recession #extremism #USpol
#PPMI's #virtual #health center is its most popular clinic…serving >10k patients/year. PPMI plans to expand virtual appointments by 40%, including weekend & evening hours.
"For some rural communities, having access to #telehealth has made significant changes in their health," said Wallett, PPMI's chief #medical operating officer. "In telehealth, I can have an appointment in my car during lunch. I don't have to take extra time off. I don't have to drive there. I don't have to find child care."
Yet…brick-&-mortar facilities still account for about 80% of clinician-provided #abortions….
Hannah Harriman, a #Marquette County #Health Dept #nurse who previously spent 12 yrs working for #PlannedParenthood of Marquette, is skeptical of any suggestion that #telehealth can replace a rural brick-&-mortar #clinic. "I say that those people have never spent any time in the UP," she said, referring to the #UpperPeninsula.
Some areas are "dark zones" for #cell coverage, she said. And some residents "have to drive to McDonald's to use their #WiFi. There are places that don't even have #internet coverage. I mean, you can't get it."
#Telehealth has its advantages, said Koskenoja, the emergency #medicine MD who previously worked for #PlannedParenthood in #Marquette, "but for a lot of #health problems, it's just not a safe or realistic way to take care of people."
She recently had a patient in the ER who was having a complication from gynecological surgery. “She needed to see a gynecologist, & I called the local OB office,”Koskenoja said. "They told & they have 30 or 40 new referrals a month," and simply don't have enough clinicians to see all those patients. "So adding in the burden of all the patients that were being seen at #PlannedParenthood is going to be impossible."
#ReproductiveHealth #abortion #access #health #law #economy #infrastructure #USpol
"It's going to be a patchwork of trying to fill in those gaps," Koskenoja said. "But we lost a very functional system for delivering this #care to patients. And now, we're just having to make it up as we go."
#PlannedParenthood #ReproductiveRights #ReproductiveHealth #access #abortion #medicine #health #telehealth #insurance #Medicaid #law #infrastructure #economy #inflation #recession #extremism #USpol
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