Latest news with #PPAU
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Planned Parenthood of Utah shutting down 2 clinics amid Trump funding freeze
A Planned Parenthood clinic in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch) Planned Parenthood of Utah announced on Tuesday that thanks to 'ongoing attacks from the Trump administration,' it's been forced to restructure its operations, which includes closing two clinics — one in northern and one in southern Utah. On May 2, Planned Parenthood said it would be closing its Logan and St. George centers, which served about 4,500 patients last year. Plus, it said it would be cutting staff and increasing prices. 'The painful decisions to close Logan and St. George health centers, reduce PPAU's staff, and increase service fees are forced on us by the Trump administration,' said Sarah Stoesz, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. The nonprofit — which offers affordable sexual and reproductive health care, especially for low-income Utahns — said in a news release Tuesday that it had to make 'several difficult operational decisions,' including the clinic closures, 'to preserve the organization's long-term sustainability and access to care for as many patients as possible.' Planned Parenthood of Utah officials said President Donald Trump's administration's withholding of $2.8 million in Title X funds forced them to take action. In addition to the closures, they said they also had to reduce 'clinical and education staff' and up their prices. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'Unfortunately, without Title X funding, PPAU must also increase the sliding-fee scale for self-pay patients,' the news release said. 'Simultaneously, PPAU will expand telehealth services to help connect patients in remote or rural areas to timely care.' Since 1985, Planned Parenthood of Utah has been the only recipient of Title X funding in the state. More than 26,000 low-income Utahns received low or no-cost services from Planned Parenthood thanks to that grant, according to the nonprofit. Last month, on March 31, the federal Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs notified almost one in five Title X grantees across the country that their fourth year of funding (for a five-year period) would be 'temporarily withheld,' according to KFF, a health policy research outlet. That freeze impacted all nine of Planned Parenthood's grantees, plus seven other nonprofits. It's not clear when or if that funding will be unfrozen. As part of that decision, all of Utah's Title X funding was frozen. Planned Parenthood of Utah has eight clinics throughout the state. The Trump administration said the funding freeze was aimed at enforcing executive orders on diversity and immigration. Federal officials gave Utah and the other impacted affiliates '10 days to submit detailed reports showing they don't discriminate in hiring or patient care, but those who did so by the deadline said they have not received a response,' Politico reported Tuesday. The outlet also said the Trump administration did not respond to questions about the status of the funds. 'It's been radio silence,' Stoesz told Politico. 'For some inexplicable reason, they are taking a meat axe to the healthcare system in America.' Since Title X, the nation's only federally-funded family planning program, was enacted in 1970 with bipartisan support, it has helped millions across the country access preventative health care, including birth control, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, and cancer screenings. The program's money cannot be used to fund abortions, according to Congress. 'By withholding Title X funding from PPAU, the Trump administration is taking away essential health care from Utahns,' Stoesz said. Utah House passes bill to ban Planned Parenthood educators from schools Still, Stoesz said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the nonprofit is 'committed to making sure that everyone gets the health care they need when they need it, despite efforts by politicians to take it away.' 'We know that we cannot show up for the communities who rely on us without making some challenging decisions now,' she said. By 'consolidating our health care delivery and expanding telehealth, we will be in a better position to continue serving those who rely on us for health care,' Stoesz added. 'While politicians in Washington are taking away people's health care, Planned Parenthood is working tirelessly to keep our patients, families, and communities healthy.' Shireen Ghorbani, interim president of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said the organization has spent decades — 55 years — supporting Utahns and 'future generations.' 'This decision is heartbreaking and extremely difficult but necessary right now, so we can operate a sustainable organization that can continue to provide our community with essential health care and education,' said Ghorbani, who ran an unsuccessful Democratic bid to represent Utah in Congress in 2018. Despite the funding freeze, Ghorbani said Planned Parenthood of Utah will continue to provide services. 'Our mission, coupled with the challenges of this moment — federal dismantling of health care, inflation, stagnant reimbursement rates — requires us to take serious and immediate cost-saving measures to protect the people we serve,' she said. 'During this transition, our clinical staff will ensure our patients continue to get the same high-quality, trusted care they have come to expect.' 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