Across the country, Planned Parenthood has been closing facilities in heavily pro-abortion states like Michigan, Illinois, and New York. In response, the abortion industry has begun sounding the alarm, claiming women are going to lose access to vital health care — and not just abortion — if this trend continues. But that simply isn’t true.
In Arizona, for example, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) released an ad claiming that Medicaid cuts to Planned Parenthood would result in women losing access to birth control, breast exams, and cancer screenings. Similar sentiments were expressed by Planned Parenthood employees in Michigan as their facilities closed.
“I do not believe that [other clinics] have the capacity for that, or that people who get care here believe they can get care at those locations,” Autumn Cote, a Medical Assistant III, said. “Patients are very sad and confused. The truth is we have to give them the same answer; ‘We have the telehealth option for many of our services, like Plan B, birth control, abortion pills by mail, and STI testing.’ However, we only have one lab in the area, and that’s in Marquette. It doesn’t even have its own bathroom for STI testing in Marquette.”
A changing business model
But how much does this really matter to Planned Parenthood?
After all, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s president claimed in early 2024 that 70% of the corporation’s abortions are now done by the abortion pill — something that Planned Parenthood is offering by telehealth. When Planned Parenthood of Illinois shut down four of its centers this year, it stated that it would be “expanding virtual options via telehealth appointments and the PPDirect app to minimize patient disruption.”
What isn’t typically mentioned is that telehealth options have a much lower overhead cost than operating brick-and-mortar facilities. It appears that Planned Parenthood Direct has been steadily growing since 2023 — so it’s more than just a backup. Telehealth is part of Planned Parenthood’s overall profit strategy.
Additionally, Planned Parenthood began a purposeful restructuring in May of 2023 after it chose to focus its funding toward political action as well as on over-hiring a large number of patient navigators to funnel abortion seekers to its various affiliates, “and then sought sympathy about layoffs and facility closures,” as Live Action News reported.
Finding health care
Another fact not typically mentioned is how many options women have for legitimate health care without ever having to go to Planned Parenthood. Take Cote’s example of Marquette County, Michigan. There 13 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) located in the county, including one in Marquette itself. That location, Marquette Family Health Center, offers a wide-ranging variety of care: behavioral health, dental care, family medicine, pediatrics, and women’s health.
With women’s health specifically, they provide gynecological and obstetrical care, along with sexual health care. Birth control, unsurprisingly, is available, too. The only thing not mentioned on the website is abortion. There are 41 FQHCs in Michigan, each of which has numerous sites — meaning residents have hundreds of options for free or low-cost health care. Similarly, there are 26 in Arizona.
Planned Parenthood has 10 facilities in Michigan, and seven in Arizona.
The reality is that women do not heavily rely on Planned Parenthood for health care in any state. It serves an estimated 2% of American women of reproductive age, and its own annual reports show that the few legitimate health care services it does offer have plummeted over the past decade, even as its abortion numbers hit record highs.
Since the year 2000, Planned Parenthood has committed over 7.1 million abortions, with an average of over 1,000 each day. It commits 62 abortions for every one woman who receives prenatal care, and has failed to report instances of child sexual abuse and trafficking. Despite all of this, the abortion chain continues to receive nearly $700 million in taxpayer funding annually.
