Planned Parenthood of Michigan is asking Governor Gretchen Whitmer to approve an emergency $5 million infusion as the organization faces having to close patient facilities and reduce services due to federal funding cutoffs.
In a letter sent Wednesday to the governor, the organization’s president says that cuts to Title X and the loss of Medicaid coverage for many of its patient services have left the provider in a precarious position. The letter also says with a Republican-controlled state House, a legislative solution is not likely, so it is up to the governor to use her executive authority as governors in Maine and Illinois have done.
“We have raised concerns about this trajectory for months,” PPMI President and CEO Paula Thornton Greear wrote to Whitmer. “We need you to take immediate action to keep our doors open because the window to preserve access to reproductive health care in Michigan, including abortion, is rapidly closing.”
Thornton Greear says she blames President Trump and the Republican Congress, but is turning to the Democratic governor because she is a long-time ally and fervent supporter of reproductive rights. She also said Michigan voters expressed their support for reproductive health care when they adopted the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment in 2022.
“And so we need for the governor to act,” she told Michigan Public Radio in an interview. “This is fundamentally about whether Michigan preserves access to care infrastructure that voters already said that they wanted or whether we see that care slip away.”
Stacey LaRouche, the governor’s press secretary, said Whitmer is sympathetic, but her powers are limited.
“Governor Whitmer is one of the country’s greatest champions for reproductive freedom,” she said. “Under the Michigan Constitution, the Legislature has the responsibility to allocate state funds. We would encourage any organization or individual to work with the Legislature on their budget asks.”
Last year, Planned Parenthood closed health centers in Jackson, Petoskey and Marquette and consolidated two facilities in Ann Arbor.
Planned Parenthood still operates 10 brick-and-mortar health centers across the state as well as an online service that assists patients with medication abortions. Four of the centers offer onsite abortion procedures.
