Planned Parenthood closes five Northern California clinics
Planned Parenthood closes five NorCal cllinics after Big Beautiful Bill becomes law
Five Planned Parenthood healthcare centers across NorCal shuttered their doors this week, citing the loss of Medicaid funding due to the passage of HR-1. Clinics in San Mateo, South San Francisco, Gilroy, Madera and Santa Cruz.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Planned Parenthood is closing five of its clinics located in five cities throughout Northern California and the Central Valley.
The closures will affect clinics in San Mateo, South San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Gilroy and Madera near Fresno. Planned Parenthood tells KTVU these organizations served more than 22,000 patients over the last year, and many of those patients won't have someplace else to go.
How'd we get here?
Dig deeper:
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the U.S. which operates the five shuttered clinics and has 30 more under its umbrella, said the closures were due to stipulations in the congressional budget bill that essentially ban Medicaid payments to health care clinics that provide abortions.
Kaitlyn Bowling is a strong advocate for access to reproductive health care, including abortion. She says Planned Parenthood has always been a necessity for people in her community.
"The fact they are taking a clinic away that is so helpful for so many people, whether you are on insurance or not, it’s an absolute travesty," Bowling told KTVU.
Planned Parenthood is fighting back in the courts, suing the Trump Administration over the new law's effects. Earlier this week, a district court issued an injunction granting relief to some Planned Parenthood locations, but none that provide abortions.
What happens next?
What they're saying:
A legal expert tells KTVU this could be tricky to watch play out in court.
"Maybe the First Circuit will restore the funding to the other Planned Parenthood affiliates, but I wouldn’t put much stock in the Supreme Court after that, given the way the Supreme Court has been so quick to intervene in cases, putting their thumbs on the scale for the Trump Administration," David Levine, Professor of Law at University of California Hastings College of Law.
The clinics are closing doors in a state where 72% percent of adults support legal abortion, per a June survey by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Bowling says she wants to see California’s leaders push back.
"In the beginning, we were told that we were gonna get Trump proofed, and I haven’t seen that. And that’s upsetting," she told KTVU.
KTVU reached out to California Governor Gavin Newsom's office to learn more about how California might support Planned Parenthood at the state level. His spokesperson offered the following statement:
"Trump says he’s pro-life — just not the lives of women or anyone needing cancer screenings. California is working with Planned Parenthood to do what we can in this tough budget environment to protect access to care."