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Planned Parenthood returning to Louisiana nearly year after reproductive health clinic closed its doors
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NEW ORLEANS — Planned Parenthood is returning to Louisiana, nearly one year after the reproductive health clinic ceased operations in the state due to a lack of federal funding.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains announced Wednesday that it would expand its telehealth services into Louisiana later this summer, with in-person care in New Orleans expected to open in the fall.
The group said that its services will include contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, pregnancy testing, perimenopause and menopause care, vasectomies, cancer screenings and other preventive health services. The clinic will not offer abortion care, a service the previous clinics did not offer either.
Louisiana will join Arkansas, Kansas, western Missouri, and Oklahoma as part of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains network of 13 health centers. Care in Louisiana will be provided by Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma, Planned Parenthood Great Plains said.
Louisiana's Planned Parenthood clinics were previously operated for more than 40 years by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
"Patients and community supporters have made clear they want Planned Parenthood back in Louisiana. We’re committed to ensuring care returns quickly and that this next phase builds on the decades of Planned Parenthood history here," Emily Wales, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement. "We saw the impact that disruptions in access had on patients in Louisiana, and we know the deep disparities that exist in the health care landscape. In close collaboration with local partners, we knew we could be part of reshaping a future where all Louisianians can access essential sexual and reproductive care, no matter what."
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