SPOKANE, Wash. — Planned Parenthood clinics across Washington are preparing for what they call the largest cut to abortion care in state funding history.
The Abortion Access Project is losing $8.5 million in funding, threatening access to women’s healthcare throughout our region.
“This impacts people on an individual level, but it also impacts the entire health care system when patients are just looking for places to go and looking to get access to care,” said Karl Eastlund, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Washington clinics saw 23% more patients seeking abortions, according to the Washington Department of Health.
The Abortion Access Project was created to address this sharp increase in demand. The program funded more staff, added security measures, and helped patients pay for services.
“These funds have made it so that we can hire more staff, train more staff. We can put in additional security measures to make sure that our clinics are safe,” Eastlund said.
“It’s incredibly disappointing, especially in a state like Washington, which has prided itself on having really strong policy for access to abortion,” he added.
The Spokane clinic sees up to 100 people daily coming form as far as Texas or Florida. Planned Parenthood says these cuts will force providers to scale back services and turn patients away.
“It’s a tough cut really, especially when times are really hard for patients. And patients need us more than ever,” Eastlund explained.
Potential federal cuts to Medicaid create additional concerns for Planned Parenthood.
“We saw 75,000 visits last year. About half of those patients rely on Medicaid right now,” Eastlund noted.
More than 90% of patients seek primary care services like well-women exams, birth control, or cancer screenings.
“We don’t want to have to compromise that care and have to make choices and cut anything,” Eastlund said.
In response to these cuts, Planned Parenthood plans to take money out of its reserves to cover the funding cuts. However, the organization says that will not last forever.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
