While Planned Parenthood’s federal funding remains uncertain, its Los Angeles affiliates are affirming that their clinics’ doors will stay open to patients.
At a Monday, July 21 press conference, L.A. county lawmakers and reproductive health care advocates said they are “sounding the alarm” about the aftermath of the reconciliation bill, recently signed into law by President Donald Trump. Among a myriad of other things, the new law aims to end Medicaid reimbursements to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health services.
However, Planned Parenthood L.A. CEO Sue Dunlap said her clinics — for now — are not passing costs onto Medicaid patients, limiting their hours or closing.
“Today in Los Angeles, Planned Parenthood’s doors remain open,” Dunlap said. “This is a moment that’s very challenging for all of us, but for today, we’re still in the fight.”
The tax bill provision has been on hold since July 7, when a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood challenging the new law.
But late Monday, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston granted Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary injunction, placing a moratorium on the funding cuts while the legal battle plays out.
Dunlap said Planned Parenthood L.A. will do “all that it can” not to close clinics — including turning to the state, county and donors for support — but also acknowledged that the ongoing legal battle between Planned Parenthood and the federal government has caused uncertainty that “is not sustainable.” Nichole Ramirez, the senior vice president of communications and donor relations at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, said its clinics are looking at “every budgetary solution to ensure that the impact to patients is minimal.”
Planned Parenthood’s 24 health centers across L.A. County see more than 250,000 patients annually, making up about one-fifth of total visits in California. Nearly 70% of those L.A. County patients live at or below the federal poverty line, and more than 80% of them rely on Medicaid, Dunlap said.
While a federal statute called the Hyde Amendment blocks federal dollars from going toward abortion care, Planned Parenthood still receives Medicaid funding for the other health services it provides.
During debate over the bill, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, said prohibiting Medicaid funds from going to clinics that provide abortions would “establish a commonsense protection of taxpayer dollars.” She said the provision does not target a single entity and said “if a medical provider wishes to stay within the Medicaid program, it should simply cut elective abortion procedures from its services.”
But L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell called the provision “racist, sexist and classist,” and a threat to primarily Black and Brown communities and low-income families on Medicaid who rely on Planned Parenthood as their “only source of care.”
Latinos, in particular, are disproportionately represented in California’s Medicaid enrollment data, making up over half of enrollees, according to the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
In the last decade, Planned Parenthood’s Los Angeles clinics have “transitioned from providing basic sexual and reproductive healthcare to advanced OBGYN care,” following the closure of 17 maternity wards in hospitals across the county, Dunlap said.
“Right now, I’m not ready to say to you, and I hope I never have to say to you, that I’m going to close clinics because of this bill today,” Dunlap said. “I have no plans to do so.”
Planned Parenthood L.A. primarily offers family planning and reproductive health services to its patients — including cancer screenings, STI testing and access to contraception — with only 10% of its services consisting of abortion care.
“It is more than just about abortion,” said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles. “It is about reproductive health care that is administered safely, appropriately, with compassion and affordably.”
Aside from its clinics, Planned Parenthood L.A. works across high schools to ensure that students have access to wellness education and sexual health care. If Planned Parenthood could no longer provide these services, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, warned that people, including these students, could go without care entirely, until it becomes an emergency.
Jodi Hicks, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, called the law an “economic sanction” on California, noting that the state’s clinics will be disproportionately impacted due to its high concentration of Medicaid patients.
“People in California should be so angry,” Hicks said. “This is a state where we have decided we value reproductive freedom.”
Nine Republican congressional representatives from California — a state that has long supported access to reproductive health care and recently enshrined the right to abortion and contraception into its constitution — voted for the reconciliation bill, a move that Hicks said went against the wishes of their constituents.
Kamlager-Dove called on Californians to spread the word about the bill’s impacts on women who use Medicaid and rely on Planned Parenthood for care. The federal administration’s move to defund Planned Parenthood, she said, is an instance of federal overreach and is fundamentally about “retribution and retaliation” against California.
But for as long as they can, Dunlap said, Planned Parenthood clinics across L.A. will continue to offer care as usual.
“Our doors remain open and our hours remain unchanged here in Los Angeles,” Dunlap said.
The Hill contributed to this report.