California gives Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California officials are giving Planned Parenthood $140 million to keep 109 clinics open and offset financial pressures caused by cuts imposed by Republicans in Washington.

Newsom said the move underscores the state’s continued commitment to enabling women to have abortions in the Golden State amid efforts by President Donald Trump and Republicans in congress to shut down Planned Parenthood.

“California is a reproductive freedom state, and this latest investment continues to demonstrate our belief in protecting access to essential health care in times of hardship,” Newsom said in a statement Thursday. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood put all of our communities at risk as people seek essential health care from community-based providers.”

State lawmakers will also take up the issue when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

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Planned Parenthood announced it will eliminate primary care at clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties starting in December. Five other clinics in the Bay Area, Santa Cruz and Central Valley have also closed in recent months due to federal efforts to defund the organization.

Dr. Janet Jacobson, medical director of the Orange and San Bernardino county clinics, told CalMatters that the federal actions are “destroying our primary care program.”

“It’s inhumane to deprive people of health care,” Jacobson said. “People with Medi-Cal should be able to see the provider of their choice for primary care.”

Planned Parenthood needs about $27 million a month to operate all of its local facilities, Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, told CalMatters.

“Planned Parenthood California affiliates are grateful to Governor Newsom and our allies in the Legislature for taking this necessary step to keep Planned Parenthood health centers open and able to provide critical services while weathering the effects of the federal funding shortfall,” Hicks said in a statement.

California is the fourth state to allocate public funds to support Planned Parenthood, joining Washington, Colorado and New Mexico. Lawmakers in Oregon and New York are also considering giving public money to the organization.

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California is the fourth state to allocate public funds to support Planned Parenthood. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over abortion services. A spending bill Trump signed over the summer prohibits Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money for its services, including abortions, mammograms, Pap smears, birth control and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Facilities in GOP-led states that impose abortion restrictions were also forced to halt procedures after a 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the power to make abortion-related laws to the states.

Planned Parenthood facilities have closed in various states across the country, including California and New York. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte — which operates 30 health centers along the California coast, the Central Valley and Nevada — closed five health centers in July after Trump blocked funding for Planned Parenthood.

Andrew Adams, Mar Monte’s chief of staff, said the organization is working on ways to maintain its financial stability. Adams said the closures helped maintain services at the organization’s other clinics until the end of the year, but it may face a “financial cliff” in the new year.

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Republicans in the nation’s capital and across the country have targeted Planned Parenthood over abortion services. (Reuters/Jaylene Morse)

“We are planning for an environment where there is no federal funding,” Adams told CalMatters. “What it looks like is that we are potentially charging patients an amount of money for the services that we provide.”

The organization claims that abortions make up only 3% of its services, but pro-life groups argue that the closure of clinics in states that prohibit abortion proves this claim untrue.

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“If that were true, they wouldn’t be closing all these facilities in pro-life states where you can’t get abortions. So that’s not believable anymore in 2025,” Sean Carney, CEO and founder of 40 Days for Life, told Fox News Digital in August.

Newsom, Calif., and Planned Parenthood lawmakers spent much of the year searching for a solution to keep the organization afloat without federal dollars, according to CalMatters.

But with a multi-billion dollar government deficit, this was a difficult goal.