Every year for the last half-century, thousands of the poorest Utahns have turned to Planned Parenthood for free or discounted family planning health care, like birth control or testing for sexually transmitted infections.
But under a directive from President Donald Trump’s administration to freeze the federal funds that helped pay for those services, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah was forced to raise its fees earlier this month. And now, it will close a quarter of its clinics in the state — the two furthest from Salt Lake City, and ones most accessible to some of Utah’s most rural residents.
“When the Title X news came to us, we were unhappy, shocked in a way, but not surprised,” said Sarah Stoesz, the interim CEO for Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. “We’ve been giving it a lot of thought for some time, and had been creating contingency plans. We didn’t know how deep the cut would be, we didn’t know how permanent it might be.”
According to Planned Parenthood, it provided services to 26,000 Utah patients using Title X funds at clinics last year. The organization was slated to receive $2.8 million toward that care this year.
The Logan clinic will close on April 30 and the St. George location will shut its doors on May 2.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.
