A Planned Parenthood affiliate plans to close 4 clinics in Iowa and
another 4 in Minnesota
[May 24, 2025]
By JOHN HANNA
Four of the six Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa and four in Minnesota
will shut down in a year, the Midwestern affiliate operating them said
Friday, blaming a freeze in federal funds, budget cuts proposed in
Congress and state restrictions on abortion.
The clinics closing in Iowa include the only Planned Parenthood facility
in the state that provides abortion procedures, in Ames, home to Iowa
State University. The others are in Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and the Des
Moines suburb of Urbandale.
Two of the clinics being shut down by Planned Parenthood North Central
States are in the Minneapolis area, in Apple Valley and Richfield. The
others are in central Minnesota in Alexandria and Bemidji. Of the four,
the Richfield clinic provides abortion procedures.
The Planned Parenthood affiliate said it would lay off 66 employees and
ask 37 additional employees to move to different clinics. The
organization also said it plans to keep investing in telemedicine
services and sees 20,000 patients a year virtually. The affiliate serves
five states — Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure
as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks
continues," Ruth Richardson, the affiliate's president and CEO, said in
a statement.
Of the remaining 15 clinics operated by Planned Parenthood North Central
States, six will provide abortion procedures — five of them in
Minnesota, including three in the Minneapolis area. The other clinic is
in Omaha, Nebraska.
The affiliate said that in April, President Donald Trump's
administration froze $2.8 million in federal funds for Minnesota to
provide birth control and other services, such as cervical cancer
screenings and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
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A protester demonstrates in front of a Planned Parenthood on July
12, 2022, in Saint Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)
 While federal funds can't be used
for most abortions, abortion opponents have long argued that Planned
Parenthood affiliates should not receive any taxpayer dollars,
saying the money still indirectly underwrites abortion services.
Planned Parenthood North Central States also cited proposed cuts in
Medicaid, which provides health coverage for low-income Americans,
as well as a Trump administration proposal to eliminate funding for
teenage pregnancy prevention programs.
In addition, Republican-led Iowa last year banned most abortions
after about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are
pregnant, causing the number performed there to drop 60% in the
first six months the law was in effect and dramatically increasing
the number of patients traveling to Minnesota and Nebraska.
After the closings, Planned Parenthood North Central States will
operate 10 brick-and-mortar clinics in Minnesota, two in Iowa, two
in Nebraska, and one in South Dakota. It operates none in North
Dakota, though its Moorhead, Minnesota, clinic is across the Red
River from Fargo, North Dakota.
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