Two more Planned Parenthood facilities announced plans Friday to close their doors, this time in Colorado.
The Times-Call reports the abortion chain’s facilities in Longmont and Parker, Colorado will close this summer. Neither location performed abortions, but both referred for them.
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Whitney Phillips told the newspaper they are closing because of a “tough financial landscape” and interestingly, Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act).
“We supported (the ACA) because we love the idea of more people having health insurance and increasing access to the critical services that they need, but a lot of our patients were self-pay,” Phillips said. “They would come in and get a pap smear and pay out of pocket. Under the ACA, a lot of patients were given the opportunity to be on Medicaid. Again, that’s wonderful, but it meant that rather than bill them directly, we had to bill Medicaid. And Medicaid reimburses at a very low rate.”
Some of the abortion group’s other Colorado locations will expand their hours to accommodate patients, according to a Planned Parenthood news release.
The two facilities are part of the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains affiliate, which announced a total of six closings this week. These include three more facilities in New Mexico and one in Wyoming.
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In total, at least 13 Planned Parenthood facilities have closed or plan to close this year, including four more in Iowa after state lawmakers defunded Planned Parenthood, two in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland.
Except in Iowa, Planned Parenthood officials said state and federal efforts to defund Planned Parenthood were not the reasons for the closures. Many mentioned patient numbers and finances as reasons.
Planned Parenthood aborts more than 300,000 unborn babies every single year. It is the largest abortion provider in the United States, and it receives nearly half a billion taxpayer dollars annually from the federal government.
Legislation to defund abortion groups has come in response to a series of undercover videos showing the Planned Parenthood abortion business selling aborted babies’ body parts. Since the undercover videos revealed shocking and potentially illegal activity at Planned Parenthood, state and federal lawmakers have introduced measures to end taxpayer funding to it and other abortion groups.
Earlier this year, Planned Parenthood leaders refused an offer to receive an increase in taxpayer funding if the group stopped doing abortions. CEO Cecile Richards called the offer “obscene and insulting,” making it very clear that abortions – not women’s health care – are essential to Planned Parenthood.
The abortion group’s annual reports show patient numbers and non-abortion health care services have been dropping in the past few years while its abortion numbers remain steady. Out of character, Planned Parenthood has not released its annual report yet for 2016. It typically releases the report in January.
Women can find more comprehensive health services at federally qualified community health centers, which outnumber Planned Parenthood facilities by more than 20 to one. These centers provide things like mammograms and prenatal care, services that Planned Parenthoods do not provide.
In the past 10 years, Planned Parenthood shut down 200 facilities across the U.S., while at the same time receiving increases in taxpayer funding, according to a Live Action analysis of Planned Parenthood’s annual reports.
