TERRE HAUTE — The Planned Parenthood clinic in Terre Haute may be closing its doors if a federal judge does not block a new state law that would cut funding to the organization.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana said Monday it will close seven of its 28 Indiana health centers — including the one in Terre Haute — if U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt does not grant the injunction, which would block a state law that cuts off much of the organization’s public funding.
Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis that her organization would close clinics in Bedford, Hammond, Michigan City, New Albany, Terre Haute and two in Indianapolis. The organization would also cut 24 jobs, she said.
Cockrum said the seven clinics served nearly 21,000 patients last year.
The Terre Haute Planned Parenthood clinic served 2,752 patients in 2010, according to data provided by PPI. Those patients made 8,526 visits to the clinic last year.
Kate Shepherd, director of communications and marketing for PPI, said the organization remains hopeful that Pratt will grant the injunction and that the clinics will not need to be closed.
“We’re still very hopeful that it won’t come to that,” she said.
The Terre Haute Planned Parenthood facility has been in operation since 1960. It has been at its current location on Third Street downtown since 1996. The number of employees at the clinic was not immediately known Monday evening.
The state law being challenged by PPI bars Medicaid funding to many Indiana entities that perform abortions.
Abortions are not performed at the Terre Haute Planned Parenthood clinic, Shepherd said, adding that Medicaid funding is not used for abortions. Abortions are performed at four of Planned Parenthood’s Indiana locations, she said.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana has received enough donations to continue serving all of its patients through June 20, Shepherd said. Pratt has said she will make her ruling by July 1.
Shepherd said the Terre Haute Planned Parenthood clinic is a family planning health center. The clinic performs hundreds of pap smears, breast exams, gonorrhea tests and pregnancy tests each year. It also performs HIV testing, annual medical exams and provides contraceptives.
The median age of patients seen at the Terre Haute clinic was 22 in 2010, and 67 percent of the clinic’s patients were at or below the official poverty level, according to data provided by Planned Parenthood of Indiana. The data also show that 93 percent of the patients visiting the clinic last year were women.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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