{"id":171452,"date":"2017-09-05T14:55:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T18:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=171452"},"modified":"2017-09-05T15:41:07","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T19:41:07","slug":"planned-parenthood-closes-women-health-care-hundreds-clinics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/planned-parenthood-closes-women-health-care-hundreds-clinics\/","title":{"rendered":"When Planned Parenthood closes, women find real health care at hundreds of other clinics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following a trend of facility<\/a> closures<\/a>, Planned Parenthood<\/a> closed its Stroudsburg location in eastern Pennsylvania on August 31. This marks the fifth facility that the abortion<\/a> giant has closed in Pennsylvania since last fall, and all while still receiving taxpayer funding.<\/p>\n

Mayor Tarah Probst, a supporter of Planned Parenthood, told PA Homepage<\/a> that 4,000 people turned to the facility last year. While Planned Parenthood and its supporters have been known to blame the organization’s failures and closings on those who would rather see Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer dollars routed to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), these centers outnumber Planned Parenthood<\/a> in Pennsylvania and across the nation, serving far more patients. Aside from this, its difficult to blame a lack of taxpayer dollars when no such law defunding Planned Parenthood has yet been passed, either in Pennsylvania or federally.<\/p>\n

A July statement from unnamed Planned Parenthood officials to WNEP, a local ABC news station<\/a>, suggests that the Stroudsburg Planned Parenthood facility wasn\u2019t needed after all:<\/p>\n

This decision was not made lightly. It resulted from careful analysis of where our patients live and seek medical care as well as an assessment of how best to ensure the longevity and strength of existing health centers, in order to offer the highest level of patient care for years to come.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The facility had already limited its hours at that location to one day a week, PA Homepage also reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Family Institute has been tracking Planned Parenthood closures in the state, noting that<\/a> 11 other Planned Parenthood locations have closed since 2013, and only one<\/em> of those committed abortions. That location was the\u00a0Easton facility<\/a>, which reportedly had \u201cthe lowest abortion count of all Planned Parenthood facilities covering abortions.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has long been reported<\/a> that Planned Parenthood is closing its own facilities, and most of these are non-abortion facilities. The organization announced several years ago<\/a> its plans to consolidate and to require each affiliate to provide abortions.<\/p>\n