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Planned Parenthood will close its last two facilities in Louisiana by the end of September, thereby withdrawing from the southern US state after more than 40 years of operating there.
The announcement was made in a statement by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which cited “anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control” as the driving force behind the decision. Planned Parenthood's two remaining clinics in Louisiana are located in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
A recent US Supreme Court ruling means that US states can cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, thereby disqualifying Medicaid users from seeking services from Planned Parenthood providers if the funding has been cut by the state.
Melaney Linton, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said: “This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare.”
She described the closures as “the result of sustained political pressure” and lamented the end of what she called a “trusted, compassionate” healthcare service.
The closures come after years of sustained legal, financial and political pressure on the organisation from state officials and pro-life advocates. Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion provider in the United States.
Louisiana has one of the most restrictive sets of rules for abortion in the US, with abortion now banned in nearly all circumstances following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In recent months, the state has enacted new legislation targeting abortion-inducing medications sent by mail. As of last week, residents can now sue out-of-state doctors who prescribe such drugs – even if they are doing so legally in their own state.
Planned Parenthood’s exit marks the culmination of a long campaign by Louisiana officials to eliminate the organisation’s presence in the state.
Louisiana’s Republican Governor Jeff Landry, a Roman Catholic, celebrated the news, calling it “a major win for the pro-life movement here in Louisiana”. Writing on Facebook, he added: “I have fought hard as Attorney General and now as Governor to rid our state of this failed organisation. Abortion should NEVER be considered healthcare.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also welcomed the announcement, declaring on X: “This is welcome news. Planned Parenthood built its business around promoting death. Louisiana chose life. We will always protect women and babies.”
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has urged Catholics across the country to participate in a daily prayer to St Joseph, the “Defender of Life”, to end the federal funding of abortion.
In an online statement, the bishops recalled that while the Trump administration’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act sought to defund abortion providers, "Planned Parenthood immediately sued in a federal court, and the judge swiftly granted part of a preliminary injunction, requiring the abortion giant’s tax payer funding to continue.”
The USCCB called on Catholics to “join a focused effort of prayer to stop taxpayer funding of the abortion industry” and encouraged them to pray daily to St Joseph until 1 October.
The final shutdown of Planned Parenthood's remaining clinics in Louisiana signals a broader trend across the United States, with Republican states increasingly cracking down on abortion following the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which in effect overturned Roe v. Wade.
As a result, Planned Parenthood is being forced to either adapt their services or to withdraw from states where legal and legislative opposition has made its practicises untenable.
Other Republican-led states where Planned Parenthood has faced similar closures or restrictions, include Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee, where pro-life legislation has sharply curtailed abortion use and defunded providers.
Many conservative states have adopted laws targeting so-called telemedicine abortions, cross-state prescriptions and public funding, amid growing coordination among Republican attorneys general.
This has in turn prompted legal challenges from abortion providers and ongoing litigation against the aggressive legal tools, such as civil lawsuits targeting out-of-state abortion providers, being adopted by Republican lawmakers.
It all indicates a new phase in America’s post-Roe battle, while standing in stark contrast to the situation in the UK, where the country's lawmakers appear to be moving inexorably, and with little concern or complaint, toward legalising and accepting abortion up to birth.
Photo: A sign in front of a Planned Parenthood facility in San Rafael, California, 26 June 2025. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.)
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