By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT-The Planned Parenthood Health Care Center in Claremont will be closing its doors on June 12. Planned Parenthood of New England announced Friday in a press release that they intended to close five of their part-time health care centers. With the closure of the part-time centers, PPNNE intends to expand operations at seven other centers around New England.
The Claremont location currently operates three days a week (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) and employs five people, with one regional staff member. Facilities in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine will all be expanding their days of operation to four or five full days a week. “To rise to the moment that we are in, we have made the difficult but strategic decision to close five of our part-time health centers effective June 12,” said Kai Williams, Senior Vice President of Health Care Delivery.
The seven locations expanding operations will be Barre, Brattleboro, and Williston in Vermont. The Exeter, New Hampshire location as well as Sanford, Biddeford and Topsham, Maine will also see new hours. Locations in Burlington, Rutland, St. Johnsbury, and White River Junction in Vermont; Derry, Keene, and Manchester in New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine will not see any changes to their current schedules.
PPNNE is working to help find other employment opportunities within their organization for employees that were affected by the closing of the five locations.
The Claremont Health Care Center, located at 136 Pleasant Street, currently provides the area with necessary health care services. Some of these services include Abortion Referrals, Birth Control, HIV Services, Men’s Health Care, Morning-After Pill (Emergency Contraception), Pregnancy Testing & Services, Primary Care, STD Testing, Treatment & Vaccines, Transgender Hormone Therapy, Women’s Health Care. Last year 781 patients received health care treatments at the Claremont location alone. Those 781 patients will now have to drive to either the Keene or White River Junction locations to receive the same services.
“There are so many people in town without means of transportation to a neighboring town like White River Junction. I was just there a few years ago for a full exam because I didn’t have insurance,” said Claremont resident Caroline Yurek.
Planned Parenthood of Claremont presently offers the New Hampshire Family Planning Program for qualifying patients. The program provides free, confidential, and convenient family planning options. This program can be accessed at any Planned Parenthood location in New Hampshire and some select locations in Vermont.
Family Planning services include birth control, STD testing and treatment, annual exams, education, and counseling. Planned Parenthood has many options for patients that do not currently have access to affordable insurance. Some patients may qualify for state funded insurance or a lower fee scale, and patients are encouraged to discuss a budget that works best for each individual.
According to a Guttmacher Institute study conducted in 2019, it was revealed that New Hampshire has the lowest unintended pregnancy and teen pregnancy rates in the country, NHFPP is part of the network that helps support those measures.
“Everyone deserves affordable health care. With or without insurance, you can always come to us for your health care,” states the Planned Parenthood website.
The decision to close the five Planned Parenthood locations comes in the wake of an alleged Supreme Court document leak. The document, potentially a majority opinion draft written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, reveals an intention to overturn Roe V Wade. In 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. Planned Parenthoods across the country offer abortion services. While the one in Claremont did not offer that service, they did provide abortion referalls to their patients.
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