California gives Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open
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California officials are giving Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open and offset a fiscal strain imposed by Republicans in Washington, Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom announced.
Newsom said it reaffirms the state’s continued commitment to abortion access for women in the Golden State amid efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to shut down Planned Parenthood.
“California is a reproductive freedom state, and this latest investment demonstrates our belief in protecting access to essential health care during times of crisis,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood threaten all of our communities because people receive basic health care from these community providers.”
State lawmakers will also look into the issue when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
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California officials are giving Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
Planned Parenthood announced in December that it would eliminate primary care at clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties. Five other clinics in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and the Central Valley also closed in recent months amid federal efforts to defund the organization.
Medical Director of Clinics of Orange and San Bernardino Counties Dr. Janet Jacobson told CalmMatters that the federal actions are “destroying our primary care program.”
“Taking away people’s health care is inhumane,” Jacobson said. “People who have Medi-Cal should be able to see the provider of their choice for primary care.”
Planned Parenthood takes about $27 million a month to operate all of its local facilities, Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told CalMatters.
“Planned Parenthood affiliates in California are grateful to Governor Newsom and our allies in the Legislature for taking this necessary step to keep Planned Parenthood health centers open and able to provide critical services as they face the effects of federal defunding,” Hicks said in a statement.
California is Fourth state to allocate public funds Washington, Colorado and New Mexico join in supporting Planned Parenthood. Lawmakers in Oregon and New York are also considering public funding for the organization.
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California is the fourth state to allocate public funds to Planned Parenthood. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over abortion services. Trump’s spending bill signed over the summer barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money for services including abortions, mammograms, Pap smears, birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing.
Facilities with abortion restrictions in GOP-led states have also been forced to shut down the procedure. 2022 Supreme Court Decision which Roe v. Overturned Wade and returned abortion lawmaking powers to the states.
Planned Parenthood facilities have closed in several states across the country, including California and New York. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte — which operates 30 health centers in coastal California, the Central Valley and Nevada — closed five health centers in July after Trump blocked Planned Parenthood’s funding.
Mar Monte Chief of Staff Andrew Adams said the organization is working on ways to maintain financial stability. Adams said the closure helped keep services at the organization’s other clinics running through the end of the year but could face a “financial bump” in the new year.
Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over abortion services. (Reuters/Galen Morse)
“We’re planning for an environment where there’s no federal funding,” Adams told CalmMatters. “It looks like potentially charging patients some money for the services we provide.”
The organization claims abortions make up only 3% of its services, but pro-life groups say the closure of clinics in states with abortion bans proves that false.
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“If that’s true, they’re not going to close all these facilities in pro-life states where you can’t get an abortion. So in 2025, it won’t be believed anymore,” Sean Carney, CEO and founder of 40 Days for Life, told Fox News Digital in August.
California lawmakers and Planned Parenthood have spent much of the year trying to find ways to keep the organization afloat without federal dollars, according to Calmatters.
But with the state’s multibillion-dollar deficit, that’s a challenging goal.
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