Planned Parenthood is making a bold move following Alabama’s near-total abortion ban by building a large new women’s clinic in the conservative state.
According to Fox News, a new 10,000-square-foot Planned Parenthood facility is currently under construction in downtown Birmingham and is expected to be completed in November. The expected opening date is around the time the state’s strict abortion law goes into effect.
“We are a doctor that Birmingham has counted on for decades, and we are committed to continuing to provide that care,” Barbara Ann Luttrell, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based Planned Parenthood Southeast, told The Associated Press.
Construction on the facility began in January with Luttrell adding that there was “absolutely no slowdown due to the legislative session” or the new anti-abortion law. The new clinic is expected to offer abortions, birth control, cancer testing and screening for sexually transmitted diseases with hopes that courts will throw out the new abortion law by the time the facility opens, Luttrell said.
Critics of the new clinic are trying to convince the Alabama Department of Public Health to deny it a license and persuade construction companies from building it.
“It was surprising when we found out that they were going to build this,” said Rev. Terry Gensemer of Metro Birmingham Life Forum. “My question is after the bill passage, why are they continuing to be so aggressive when the possibility exists that they won’t be able to be in business?”
The clinic would replace a current Planned Parenthood clinic in Birmingham that critics say hasn’t performed an abortion since 2017. The only three abortion clinics currently operating in Alabama are located in Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville and are not run by Planned Parenthood.
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