Planned Parenthood’s Michigan closures leave UP without an abortion clinic
- Planned Parenthood of Michigan is closing three clinics — including two in northern Michigan — citing funding threats and political pressure from the Trump administration
- Closures leave Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and much of northern Michigan without an in-person abortion provider
- Critics of Planned Parenthood and abortion rights hailed the news
Planned Parenthood of Michigan will close three clinics this month, including two northern Michigan locations, blaming funding “threats” from the Trump administration.
The decision, announced by Planned Parenthood on Thursday, means there will be no in-person providers of abortion services in the Upper Peninsula — covering 15 counties and over 300,000 people.
And its Traverse City clinic will soon be the closest location for women in 23 counties who may have gone to Petoskey or Marquette. None provided surgical abortions but did offer medication abortion services.
Planned Parenthood is also closing its clinic in Jackson, it announced, and consolidating two facilities in Ann Arbor while expanding hours for telehealth appointments, through which patients can be prescribed abortion pills.
The clinics officially close April 30. Overall, Planned Parenthood will have 10 clinics in seven counties after the moves. It also announced plans to reduce staffing across those remaining clinics by 10%.
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The decision "reflects months of strategic planning" and will prepare the organization to "adapt quickly in a challenging political landscape," Paula Thornton Greear, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement.
Greear cited the Trump administration's recent move to freeze tens of millions of dollars for Planned Parenthood affiliates in 16 states, including Ohio and Indiana, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigates potential violations.
Planned Parenthood's Michigan affiliate is reportedly not on the initial list of states where federal funding was paused.
Planned Parenthood did not respond to calls and emails from Bridge Michigan requesting comment. But a spokesperson told Michigan Public that the organization could lose up to $5.4 million in federal funding in 2025 — 16% of its budget — if the current “freeze” became permanent.
The Trump administration has claimed some affiliates of the organization were violating civil rights law and President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including his ban on the use of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“The Trump administration and its anti-abortion allies have made clear their intention to defund Planned Parenthood and attack access to sexual and reproductive health care nationwide – so while these attacks are devastating, they are not a surprise,” Greear said.
The federal government does not fund abortions. But it does provide millions to Planned Parenthood to provide family planning assistance and reproductive health care, including birth control and other nonabortion services.
Critics of Planned Parenthood have long assailed the organization and its funding. Amber Rosebloom, president of Right to Life of Michigan, wrote a scathing letter this week labeling the national nonprofit a “profiteer” of abortion “nestled in federal coffers sucking up $700 million in taxpayer dollars in 2023 alone.”
“The Planned Parenthood closures in Michigan are good news for women and families in our state,” Rosebloom said in a statement released Thursday. “These four closures demonstrate Planned Parenthood’s inability to meet the needs of women, while they continue to advocate a radical political agenda and an abortion-only response to women facing unplanned pregnancies.”
Some Trump allies also cheered the pending closure of Planned Parenthood clinics, including former Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock, who took to social media to say “THIS is EXACTLY what we voted for.”
Trump won Michigan by just over 80,000 votes, reversing his 2020 loss as part of a stunning win in which he took all of the crucial swing states en route to a second term.
On the campaign trail in Michigan, however, Trump campaigned mainly on jobs and the economy, mentioning abortion only to say it should be left up to the states following a 2022 US Supreme Court decision that overturned national abortion rights.
In 2022, 57% of Michigan voters backed Proposal 3, which amended the Michigan Constitution to guarantee a right to abortion in the state months after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated a federal right by overturning Roe v. Wade.
Planned Parenthood expanded in Michigan last year by beginning to offer surgical abortions at its Grand Rapids facility.
Michigan clinics provided just over 31,000 abortions in 2023, the last year for which the state kept records. Following passage of Proposal 3, the state said it will no longer track how many abortions occur in the state.
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