ST. LOUIS – Planned Parenthood is closing two of its St. Louis-area clinics, but it’s not cutting back on services; in fact, it’s expanding in other health centers.
“I’m a little bit anxious, trepidatious, because women deserve access to health care – bottom line,” resident Theresa Lyson-Lorson said.
Planned Parenthood announced it is consolidating services and expanding telehealth services, despite closing its South Grand and Florissant locations.
“One of the most surprising things that we learned through this process was that most patients see us at multiple health centers,” Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, said.
The St. Peters clinic will now be open five days a week, including one Saturday a month, and the Central West End will add an additional provider. Another clinic in Joplin will close in January.
According to a Planned Parenthood spokesperson, patient data and demand are the driving forces behind these changes.
“It does feel like strange timing before the election as well. I don’t know if it’s a funding issue about whether they can only keep one place open, but especially with Amendment 3 on the ballot,” Lydon-Lorson said. “I think it’s really important to bring this to folks’ attention.”
Richard Muniz, interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, said the changes aim to ensure long-term sustainability amidst political attacks on reproductive health care.
“We live in a reality where the state continues to attack us,” McNicholas said. “Where they continue to try to find ways to eliminate access for the state’s most vulnerable.”
Since Missouri banned abortions following the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood has focused on providing other essential services.
“They provide women’s health care and women’s services. And them closing is just another harbinger of kind of what’s been happening to women politically, to women in this state,” Lydon-Lorson said.
Planned Parenthood officials said they will offer referrals and logistical support to patients affected by the clinic closures.
