Planned Parenthood of Utah to close 2 clinics following federal freeze on Title X funding
SALT LAKE CITY () — Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) announced that it will close two of its locations after the loss of federal funds.
On Tuesday, the organization announced that the Logan and St. George locations are set to close May 2 and that clinical and education staff will be reduced.
Earlier this month, the federal government froze Title X funding, which is used for organizations that work to provide family planning, birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing. For PPAU, that is $2.8 million that is now being withheld.
More than 200 volunteers dig tree wells for Salt Lake City 'Earth Week' initiative
'When you start to think about the impacts of witholding these dollars, it means people will have to defer care, or they will have to spend a lot more, or disrupt their lives a lot more to get the kind of care that they need,' said Shireen Ghorbani, Interim President of the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah.
To put into perspective the impact these closures can have, Ghorbani shared that, for someone in St. George, the closest options they would have would be to go to Orem (roughly 260 miles away) or Las Vegas (about 150 miles away).
In a press release, PPAU said that, without Title X funding, it will also need to increase the sliding-fee scale for self-pay patients. Additionally, telehealth services will be expanded to help patients in rural or remote areas.
Title X was in 1970 with bipartisan support and has been the nation's only federally funded family planning program. Ghorbani said that since 1985, PPAU has been the only recipient of Title X funding in the state, and that the withholding of such funds will impact tens of thousands of Utahns who rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for affordable reproductive care.
PPAU reports that in 2024, 4,500 patients received care at the Logan and St. George health centers, and more than 26,000 low-income Utahns received low or no-cost services as a result of funding from the Title X program.
'[That was] because of a promise from the federal government to ensure that they could make decisions about their bodies in regard to getting birth control when they needed it, getting screened for cancer if they needed that, making sure they were healthy, getting STI screening when they needed that,' she said. 'That promise has been withheld from this administration, and that means that Utahns across the state no longer receive low or no-cost healthcare… Those are individuals who do not have the money to come and see a primary care physician. They come here because they absolutely need our care.'
In addition, she said the loss of Title X funding will also impact the organization's educational programs.
'It also supports our education, making sure that people get maturation classes, STI classes, so they understand their sexual health. That has also been deeply impacted by these cuts,' Ghorbani said.
PPAU will still have operating health centers in Orem, West Valley City, Salt Lake City, South Jordan, and Ogden.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Nearly 100 House Democrats urge RFK Jr. to restore millions in family planning grants
Nearly 100 House Democrats are calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore tens of millions of dollars in federal family planning grants to more than a dozen organizations that have been frozen for more than two months. In a letter to Kennedy sent Friday and seen first by The Hill, 95 lawmakers said the organizations that had their Title X funding frozen on March 31 — including nine Planned Parenthood clinics — are still in the dark about the status of their grants. At the time, the clinics said they received letters from the administration saying the grants were being 'temporarily withheld' due to possible civil right violations and President Trump's executive orders prohibiting the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and 'taxpayer subsidization of open borders.' More than two months later, the lawmakers said the grantees 'remain without funding and have received no communication from the administration regarding the status of the investigations, the expected timeline, or the future of their funding.' HHS declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation. The agency is being sued over the freeze by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 'Congress has already appropriated these funds, and the administration has a responsibility to distribute them without undue delay or obstruction, ensuring that critical care is not disrupted for millions of people who rely on Title X services,' the group of lawmakers wrote. The letter was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.) and signed by 91 other Democrats. Title X is the country's only federal program dedicated to providing affordable birth control and other sexual and reproductive health care to low-income Americans and has done so since the 1970s. The lawmakers timed the letter to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a constitutional right to privacy regarding contraception and reproductive decisions. 'However, due to the actions of this administration, reproductive freedom is under threat,' the lawmakers wrote. The first Trump administration prohibited providers from receiving Title X funding if they mentioned abortion or referred patients for abortions. It also required clinics to construct separate facilities for the procedure and other services. More than a dozen grantees, including all Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide, left the program in protest because of the rule. The Biden administration reversed Trump's Title X rule in 2021. Updated at 3:26 p.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Intermountain Health launches cancer treatment program for patients with advanced melanoma skin cancer
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah) – May is Melanoma Awareness Month and Intermountain Health is unveiling an exciting new treatment program for Utahns with advanced melanoma cancer – the first time local patients have been treated with this advanced technology and new therapy in the Beehive State. Thanks to this new cutting-edge personalized cancer treatment program, Utahns who have advanced melanoma cancer no longer have to leave the state to get a groundbreaking new treatment that is showing promise for patients with the deadliest type of skin cancer. Intermountain Health has launched a new program to provide tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy to treat patients with a type of skin cancer called unresectable or metastatic melanoma that cannot be removed surgically or has spread to other parts of the body. It is the first time this therapy has been used to treat patients in Utah. This novel therapy works by using special immune cells, called lymphocytes, which are taken from the tumor itself. These cells are then multiplied in a lab and put back into the patient's body to help fight the cancer. As part of the treatment process, doctors use AMTAGVI, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medication for the treatment of advanced melanoma that has not responded to standard therapies. AMTAGVI activates the patient's own immune system to target and destroy cancer cells and represents a different approach compared to other immunotherapies. Instead of broadly stimulating the immune system, it harnesses a patient's own tumor-specific T cells to directly target and destroy cancer cells. Intermountain Health cancer experts say the groundbreaking treatment marks a significant advancement in the fight against advanced melanoma, offering a new option for patients with limited treatment alternatives. 'We're excited to offer this advanced therapy and the hope it provides for improved outcomes for patients who have not responded to standard therapies,' said Tawnya Bowles, MD, a surgical oncologist at Intermountain Health. 'The promise for patients is that this treatment will work against their advanced melanoma when other treatments have failed. These patients do not have as many treatment options once their tumor has progressed on standard treatments. This therapy offers new hope for these patients.' TIL therapy has been used for decades, but AMTAGVI allows the treatment to extend beyond select treatment centers by using a protocol that lets a patient's tumor T cells grow at centralized facilities in the United States. Previously, only limited academic facilities with lab facilities could grow and expand the T cells. For Utahns, having the therapy program available locally is a major advancement. Not only does Utah have the highest incidence of melanoma in the nation, but until now, Utahns needing TIL therapy had to travel out of state for their care. 'Each year we see Utah patients who need this next step of treatment for advanced melanoma, and these patients previously had to leave the state and incur the expense of travel and the increased stress of being away from home,' said Caroline Nebhan, MD, PhD, Intermountain Health medical oncologist. 'We're thrilled to be able to offer this advanced treatment close to home with our Intermountain Health oncology team.' Patients in the new Intermountain treatment program are supported by a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians, including oncology experts and patient navigators, who work closely with patients throughout their treatment. The therapy involves surgically removing a sample of the patient's tumor, from which tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are extracted. These TILs, which are immune cells capable of recognizing and attacking cancer cells, are then sent to a specialized manufacturing facility where they are expanded and multiplied into billions of cells. Once the manufacturing process is complete (approximately 34 days), the patient undergoes a short course of lymphodepleting chemotherapy to prepare their body for the infusion of the expanded TILs. Following the AMTAGVI infusion, patients may receive several doses of interleukin-2 (IL-2) to further stimulate the activity and growth of the infused T cells. Patients are cared for in the hospital for a period to monitor for potential side effects. Research results of the medication were promising. Clinical trial data supporting FDA approval of AMTAGVI demonstrated promising response rates and, in many cases, prolonged outcomes in patients with advanced melanoma, suggesting the potential for long-term control of the disease. 'We're committed to providing our patients with access to the most advanced and innovative cancer treatments,' said Dr. Bowles. 'The addition of AMTAGVI to our comprehensive oncology program underscores this commitment and offers new hope for patients battling advanced melanoma.' To learn more about cancer care at Intermountain Health, go to Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Sponsored by Intermountain Health. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- The Hill
Nearly 100 House Democrats urge RFK Jr. to restore millions in family planning grants
A group of nearly 100 House Democrats is calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore tens of millions of dollars in federal family planning grants to more than a dozen organizations that have been frozen for more than two months. In a letter to Kennedy sent on Friday and seen first by The Hill, 95 lawmakers said the organizations which had their Title X funding frozen on March 31 — including nine Planned Parenthood clinics — are still in the dark about the status of their grants. At the time, the clinics said they received letters from the administration saying the grants were being 'temporarily withheld' due to possible civil right violations and President Trump's executive orders prohibiting the promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and 'taxpayer subsidization of open borders.' More than two months later, the lawmakers said the grantees 'remain without funding and have received no communication from the administration regarding the status of the investigations, the expected timeline, or the future of their funding.' HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 'Congress has already appropriated these funds, and the administration has a responsibility to distribute them without undue delay or obstruction, ensuring that critical care is not disrupted for millions of people who rely on Title X services,' the group of lawmakers wrote. The letter was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), and signed by 91 other Democrats. Title X is the country's only federal program dedicated to providing affordable birth control and other sexual and reproductive health care to low-income Americans and has done so since the 1970s. The lawmakers timed the letter to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a constitutional right to privacy regarding contraception and reproductive decisions. 'However, due to the actions of this administration, reproductive freedom is under threat,' the lawmakers wrote. The first Trump administration prohibited providers from receiving Title X funding if they mentioned abortion or referred patients for abortions. It also required clinics to construct separate facilities for the procedure and other services. More than a dozen grantees, including all Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide, left the program in protest because of the rule. The Biden administration reversed Trump's Title X rule in 2021.
