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Planned Parenthood Now Offering Abortions At Louisville Clinic

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky announced on Thursday that it began offering abortions at its new Louisville location last week.

The group moved to a new location in downtown Louisville on Seventh Street last month. In a news release, the Planned Parenthood chapter said that it made a decision to retrofit a building that would be able to accommodate a surgical center.

Despite the political rhetoric, Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide abortions at all of its locations; its clinics provide basic health screenings and birth control for clients, most of whom live in poverty.

The move means Kentucky now has three locations to obtain abortions: the EMW Women’s Surgical Centers in Louisville and Lexington and the Planned Parenthood clinic in Louisville.

Betty Cockrum, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, said the new center still offers all the other services that were available at its previous site.

“We decided in looking at our entire array of services at our existing location that it made sense to do a relocation and expand services there in Louisville and try to meet what we believe is an unmet need in that part of Kentucky for the whole array of reproductive health care services,” Cockrum said.

She said the new space offers a “pretty well-buffeted environment so that there will be less risk of harassment.”

State lawmakers are considering Republican-sponsored legislation that would prohibit federal family planning funds, also called Title X funds, from going to Planned Parenthood clinics. Current federal law already prohibits the use of those funds for abortion services.

This story has been updated.

WFPL’s Rick Howlett contributed to this story.

Copyright 2016 WFPL-FM. To see more, visit WFPL-FM.

Erica Peterson is a reporter and Kentucky Public Radio correspondent based out of WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky.
Rick Howlett is a reporter based out of WFPL in Louisville, Kentucky.
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