California gives Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open
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Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California officials are giving $140 million to Planned Parenthood to keep 109 clinics open and offset financial strain from cuts imposed by Republicans in Washington.
Newsom said the move confirms the state’s commitment to continuing access to abortion for women in the Golden State amid efforts by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to shut down Planned Parenthood.
“California is a reproductive freedom state, and this latest investment continues to demonstrate our belief in protecting access to essential health care in troubling times,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood put our entire communities at risk as people seek essential health care from these community providers.”
State lawmakers also will take up the issue when the legislature reconvenes in January.
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California officials are giving Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
Planned Parenthood had announced in December that it would eliminate primary care services at clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties. Five other clinics in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and the Central Valley have also been closed in recent months amid federal efforts to defund the organization.
The medical director of the clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties, Dr. Janet Jacobson told CalMatters that federal actions “destroyed our essential care program.”
“Taking away people’s healthcare is inhumane,” Jacobson said. “People with Medi-Cal should be able to see the provider they choose for their primary care.”
Planned Parenthood needs about $27 million a month to operate all of its local facilities, Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told CalMatters.
“Planned Parenthood organizations in California are grateful to Governor Newsom and our allies in the Legislature for taking this necessary step to keep Planned Parenthood health centers open and able to provide critical services while weathering the impacts of federal funding,” Hicks said in a statement. he said.
California became the fourth state to allocate public funds to support Planned Parenthood, after Washington, Colorado and New Mexico. Lawmakers in Oregon and New York are also considering giving public money to the organization.
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California is the fourth state to allocate public funds to support Planned Parenthood. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)
Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over its abortion services. The spending bill Trump signed in the summer barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money for its services, including abortions, mammograms, smear tests, birth control and sexually transmitted infection tests.
Facilities in GOP-led states with abortion restrictions were also forced to halt procedures following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe V. Wade and returning abortion lawmaking authority to states.
Planned Parenthood facilities are closing in several states across the country, including California and New York. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which operates 30 health centers in coastal California, the Central Valley and Nevada, closed five health centers in July after Trump blocked funding for Planned Parenthood.
Mar Monte Chief of Staff Andrew Adams said the organization is working on ways to maintain its financial stability. Adams said the closures had helped maintain services at the organisation’s other clinics through the end of the year, but that could face a “fiscal cliff” in the new year.
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Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over its abortion services. (REUTERS/Gaelen Morse)
“We are planning for an environment without federal funding,” Adams told CalMatters. “This seems like potentially charging patients some money for the services we provide.”
The organization claims abortion makes up only 3 percent of its services, but pro-life groups claim the closure of clinics in states where abortion is prohibited proves that false.
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“If that were true, they wouldn’t be shutting down all these facilities in pro-life states where abortions aren’t available. So in 2025, that’s not very credible anymore,” 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital in August.
Newsom, California lawmakers and Planned Parenthood spent much of the year searching for a solution that would keep the agency afloat without federal dollars, according to CalMatters.
But with a government deficit worth billions of dollars, this was a difficult goal.
