SALT LAKE CITY – Planned Parenthood of Utah is shutting down its St. George and Logan clinics this week, saying it had to make cuts after the Trump administration froze $2.8 million in federal family planning funds to the organization.
It’s also raising fees on its sliding scale payment system and laying off some of its staff, said Shireen Ghorbani, interim president of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah.
“The thing that people will lose is quick access to high-quality, low-cost care,” Ghorbani said Thursday.
In March, the Department of Health and Human Services notified the Utah branch and eight others around the country that it would withhold yearly funding they receive under Title X, a federal grant program supporting family planning services.
The Utah affiliate declined to share a copy of the notice with KSL but said it believes Planned Parenthood is being targeted because of its support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The Trump administration has canceled what it has called “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion grants and contracts.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to KSL’s request for comment.
Planned Parenthood was Utah’s only recipient of Title X funds, Ghorbani said. Federal law bars clinics from using the money to pay for abortions.
Rachel Turk, of Mountain Green, told KSL she’s disheartened by the clinic closures in Utah.
While a newlywed studying at Utah State University years ago and working hard to make ends meet, Turk said she went without health insurance and relied on Planned Parenthood in Logan for inexpensive yearly exams, birth control and education about reproductive health.
After hearing the clinic would shut its doors on April 30, Turk posted online to express her concern, wrote an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune and told KSL her next step is to call her elected representatives.
She told KSL-TV she’s worried for today’s young adults.
Said Turk: “As a parent, I thought I’d be giving my daughter more – not less — than what I had, and that is really disheartening and troublesome.”
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