Planned Parenthood to close Cedar Rapids clinic, 3 others in Iowa

Planned Parenthood announced Friday it would close four of its women's reproductive health centers in large Iowa cities — including in Cedar Rapids.

The closures follow a "huge drop" in the organizations' Iowa patients that resulted from new abortion restrictions last year, a $2.8 million federal funding freeze in Minnesota, and the prospect of further cuts that federal lawmakers have partially approved, according to Planned Parenthood North Central States, which also has locations in Minnesota, Nebraska and the Dakotas.

"We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues," Ruth Richardson, the group's chief executive for the north-central states, said in a prepared statement. "We know that many of our patients would have nowhere to turn if every Planned Parenthood health center were to disappear from their state."

In Iowa, that will reduce the number of Planned Parenthood clinics to two — one in central Des Moines and one in Iowa City. The organization said it would continue to provide medication abortion services in Des Moines and would resume its availability in Iowa City.

The other closures include Ames, Sioux City and Urbandale, and most will happen in the coming weeks.

The group's website indicates the Cedar Rapids site — located at 3425 First Ave. SE — is "closed until further notice."

Planned Parenthood has long provided birth control and other sexual and reproductive services to women at reduced costs, but its abortion work has made it a target of conservative lawmakers.

In 2017, Iowa state lawmakers blocked public funding for family planning services at Planned Parenthood locations because it provides abortions.

The organization has closed other clinics periodically since, most recently in 2023 in Cedar Falls, Council Bluffs and the south side of Des Moines. At the time of those closures, the organization said it planned to provide more services at other locations.

Abortions in Iowa plummeted about 40 percent in one month in 2024 after the state’s six-week abortion ban took effect that July, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The newly announced closures include four sites in Minnesota. Planned Parenthood North Central States will keep 15 health centers in five states and has telehealth services available seven days each week.

Of the remaining 15 clinics operated by Planned Parenthood North Central States, six will provide abortion procedures — five of them in Minnesota, including three in the Minneapolis area. The other clinic is in Omaha, Nebraska.

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"Women who live in a third of Iowa's 99 counties either have limited or no access to OBGYN services," said Paige Godden, a spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic Party. "With fewer OBGYNs in Iowa, it will be harder for women to get routine cancer screenings, have access to prenatal care they need, and to grow their families."

Planned Parenthood said it will eliminate 66 of its current employees and potentially reassign 37 more.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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