Gainesville — Since the 82nd Texas Legislature let out of session, a lot of changes have been made to many of the state agencies, including Planned Parenthood.

According to Planned Parenthood of North Texas CEO Ken Lambrecht, the Planned Parenthood Gainesville Health Services facility will be closing its doors on Aug. 29.

“Planned Parenthood of North Texas provides vital, preventative healthcare services for nearly 95,000 women and men in North Texas,” Lambrecht said. “For more than 75 years, Planned Parenthood of North Texas has offered high-quality, affordable healthcare to community life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings, well women exams, birth control, blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol screenings, adoption referrals and much more.”

For those who can’t afford reproduction healthcare, the facility provides much-needed assistance.

According to the website, the Gainesville health center allowed patients to come in for appointments that do not require medical exams including birth control education and supplies, emergency contraception (the morning-after-pill), pregnancy testing and counseling, STD testing, testing and treatment for urinary tract infections.

“Planned Parenthood's Gainesville Health Center provided preventive services to 965 unduplicated patients last year who came to the health center for 1513 preventive health care visits,” Lambrecht said. “In addition to these patients, 891 patients came for birth control.”

Many of the services provided at this location were provided at a lower subsidized rate based on the facilities ability to receive governmental funding. This lack of future government funding is the reason the clinic is closing, officials said.

“Like many healthcare providers facing funding cuts after this Texas Legislative session, Planned Parenthood is adjusting its business model to ensure that our mission of providing healthcare education and advocacy across Texas remains strong,” Lambrecht said. “We are in the process of reconstructing to ensure that we can continue to best serve communities throughout North Texas.”

This closing may put a damper in somes plans, but just because the facility is closing doesn’t mean that residents will no longer be able to benefit from planned parenthood programs.

“The health and safety of our patients remain our top priority,” Lambrecht said. “Therefore, we are directing our patients to two nearby planned parenthood health centers, one is in the Denton location and one in Lewisville. Planned Parenthood remains committed to supporting an extensive network of health care centers in urban and rural settings; we recognize we are the most trusted provider of preventive reproduction healthcare in Texas and must remain strong to support the health of our communities.”

Lambrecht said the closing came with a heavy heart.

“Overall, this closing will support Planned Parenthood’s goals for resturcturing our healthcare delivery as we strive to remain the medical home for the vast majority of patients seeking reporductive healthcare in North Texas,” he said. “We are also opening new health centers in locations where we have identified a greater number of paitents who need our vital healthcare services.”

For other limited testing such as free pregnancy testing and free ultrasounds visit All Babies Born Alive (ABBA) located on Taylor Street. ABBA is a faith-based, pro-life facility who focuses on providing support and information for soon-to-be mothers.

The facility is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information on the Planned Parenthood facilities or services visit www.plannedparenthood.org.

  (© Staff photo by Heather Pilkington)

Closing its doors

The Planned Parenthood location in Gainesville is set to close Aug. 29 due to budget cutbacks to the agency. For now the facility remains open during regular hours on Monday and Thursday for non-exam items.