Planned Parenthood announces it will close 4 clinics in Minnesota
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Planned Parenthood North Central States announced Friday it plans to close and consolidate eight of its 23 clinics in the region to cope with funding cuts and lack of income generally.
The move affects four clinics in Minnesota including two in the Twin Cities: Alexandria, Bemidji, Richfield and Apple Valley. They will layoff 66 staff members, reassign 37 others and cut 35 more positions in other ways.
The other centers slated to close are in Iowa.
“We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues," Ruth Richardson, the affiliate's president and CEO, said in a statement.
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Of the remaining 15 clinics operated by Planned Parenthood North Central States, six will provide abortion procedures — five of them in Minnesota, including three in the Minneapolis area.
The affiliate said that in April, President Donald Trump's administration froze $2.8 million in federal funds for Minnesota to provide birth control and other services, such as cervical cancer screenings and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
While federal funds can't be used for most abortions, abortion opponents have long argued that Planned Parenthood affiliates should not receive any taxpayer dollars, saying the money still indirectly underwrites abortion services.
Planned Parenthood North Central States also cited proposed cuts in Medicaid, which provides health coverage for low-income Americans, as well as a Trump administration proposal to eliminate funding for teenage pregnancy prevention programs.
In addition, Republican-led Iowa last year banned most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant, causing the number performed there to drop 60 percent in the first six months the law was in effect and dramatically increasing the number of patients traveling to Minnesota and Nebraska.
After the closings, Planned Parenthood North Central States will operate 10 brick-and-mortar clinics in Minnesota, two in Iowa, two in Nebraska, and one in South Dakota. It operates none in North Dakota, though its Moorhead, Minnesota, clinic is across the Red River from Fargo, North Dakota.
