CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - The only Planned Parenthood in the state of Wyoming is closing down.
Planned Parenthood’s Casper location confirmed Tuesday it will close this summer after more than 40 years of operation because of financial reasons.
“”This is a challenging decision,” said Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains official Adrienne Mansanares.
The Casper location, which opened in 1975, serves around 500 patients per year, the Casper Star-Tribune reported (https://bit.ly/2qPQ4yS).
Mansanares said most Wyoming patients who receive care from Planned Parenthood do so at the organization’s Fort Collins location in Colorado.
Spokeswoman Whitney Phillips said patients would be referred to three local providers: Cedars Health, Community Health Center of Central Wyoming and Casper-Natrona County Health Department. All three welcome walk-ins and appointments and accept Medicaid, she said.
“Our No. 1 priority and concern is to ensure that we have coordination of care for our patients,” Mansanares said. “We’ll be working really closely with our patients to make sure we get them connected to another provider.”
President Donald Trump signed a law last month that allows states to deny certain federal funding to Planned Parenthood. The measure overturns a regulation finalized at the end of the President Obama administration that explicitly stops states from denying federal Title X family planning funds to clinics, like Planned Parenthood, that also provide abortion services.
The Casper location does not provide abortions. It offers birth control, pregnancy testing, testing for various diseases, and abortion referrals.
The health center will close July 21.
Wyoming will join North Dakota as the only two states without a Planned Parenthood health center.
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