Juneau’s Planned Parenthood Health Center closed in November and won’t reopen, leaving the community with less access to reproductive healthcare.
Planned Parenthood offers a wide range of reproductive healthcare, including no or low-cost access to vaccines, regular wellness screenings, STD testing and treatment, prenatal and postpartum services, contraception and abortions.
The center was initially closed for building repairs. An email announcement to patients on Thursday morning said the organization decided to keep it closed.
It read “This decision was not made lightly and reflects a careful evaluation of patient needs, access to care in Alaska, and the challenges facing sexual and reproductive health care today.”
According to Jennifer Martinez, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, the cost of repairs to the building, and the threat of reduced funding in this political climate factored into the decision.
“We are trying to consolidate resources as we’re able to, just to enable our affiliate to continue to move forward with our mission and ensuring that we’re providing the care that our patients need in all six states,” she said.
She says the organization also closed another health center in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Martinez says patients that used Planned Parenthood’s services in Juneau will be able to receive some care through telehealth, and can continue receiving birth control that can be self-administered.
“We’ve been here for over 100 years,” she said. “We’re going to keep fighting and do whatever it takes so that the patients in Juneau, Alaska, and the country, continue to receive the care that they need and deserve, specifically with regards to reproductive and sexual health care, including abortion care.”
Several providers in town still offer services that patients received at the clinic, including reproductive care, gender-affirming care for transgender patients and STI testing. Several of them accept Medicaid or offer services on a sliding scale. For example, JAMHI Health and Wellness offers STI screenings, treatment, and reproductive care at a sliding scale.
But at this time, no other healthcare organizations provide abortion care in Southeast Alaska. Its closure means the nearest access is at Alaska’s remaining two Planned Parenthood health centers in Fairbanks and Anchorage or in Washington state. Bartlett Regional Hospital is able to provide care for miscarriages.
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