According to a study published by the organisation American Life League, 32 Planned Parenthood centres[1] closed their doors in 2017.
Two clinics closed in Colorado, four in California, and three each in Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The same fate befell the one and only family planning centre in Wyoming where operations have ceased, as in North Dakota. Currently, the District of Columbia and four states—namely, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia—have only one centre.
Some managers of the American family planning organisation attribute these closures to the introduction in 2010 of Obamacare, which allowed patients to benefit from medical insurance rather than fund their own medical care. However, this decline appears to have started well before 2010 since the number of these U.S. centres has fallen from 938 in 1995 to 597 at the present time.
According to the last Planned Parenthood annual report, the organisation served some 2.4 million patients in 2015 compared to 3 million in 2012. The number of abortions nevertheless remained stable: 328,348 in 2015 compared to 323,999 in 2014. Despite the closure of a good number of centres, the organisation reported receiving additional federal funding to the tune of $25 million in the past year.
Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump have promised to reallocate the annual funding of over $500 million paid to Planned Parenthood to women’s health clinics, once it has been confirmed that these clinics do not perform abortions.
According to the executive director of the American Life League, “there is evidence to show that Americans have had enough of family planning. Revelations about its economic model and ruthless disregard for human life have weakened public approval“.
[1] American family planning organisation.
Washington Times, Bradford Richardson (19/12/2017)