ST. GEORGE, Utah — On May 2, Planned Parenthood’s St. George clinic will close its doors for good, marking a significant loss for many local residents, particularly college students, young people, and low-income individuals who have relied on its affordable reproductive healthcare services. The clinic, located just a mile from Utah Tech University, is one of two Planned Parenthood locations in Utah shutting down due to cuts in federal funding.
The closures come after the Trump administration froze $2.8 million in Title X funding, a federal program that has long supported family planning services across the United States. Title X provides critical resources for services such as birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, and limited fertility support. While the St. George clinic did not provide abortion services, it was an essential source of preventative care for those without the financial means to seek care elsewhere.
In response to the funding cut, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah made the difficult decision to consolidate services. Along with St. George, the Logan clinic in northern Utah will also shut down. The closures come at a time when many in the community are expressing concern about the impact on public health, especially among students at Utah Tech University.
For students like freshman Coco Mazet, the closure is particularly troubling. “For college-aged students who don’t have a lot of money, having a place where you can get care for less money was so important,” Mazet said. “Now, without it, a lot of people are going to struggle.”
Sophomore Gillian Morrison echoed those concerns, saying that the clinic’s presence in the community had provided a sense of security. “It was comforting to know that we could be safe and there was a Planned Parenthood in our community,” Morrison said.
Nimae Anderson, a senior at Utah Tech, expressed a fear that the clinic’s closure would result in negative health outcomes for the community. “If people have less access to the resources they need, like birth control and STI testing, other preventative measures, I fear it’s going to increase the rate of the things we are trying to prevent,” Anderson warned.
For some, the closure poses significant logistical challenges. Student Mackenzie Robb, who does not have a car on campus, explained that she would now have to travel to Las Vegas for care, a journey that takes two hours each way. “It makes everything more inconvenient and more expensive,” Robb said.
Last year, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah provided care to approximately 26,000 people through Title X-funded services. Planned Parenthood officials have voiced concern that the loss of these services will result in a decline in preventative care across the state. “We know that when people have either funding support withdrawn or they have to travel greater distances, they defer care,” said Jennifer Ghorbani, CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah. “And we’re very concerned about that.”
The funding cuts also threaten to hinder public health education efforts in Utah. “This is a state that already lacks in sex education and maturation education, so there are additional impacts we know are occurring because the administration’s decisions,” Ghorbani added.
While Planned Parenthood will continue to offer some services via telehealth, including birth control prescriptions, the closures reflect a larger trend of declining support for public health infrastructure in the U.S. Ghorbani has described the cuts as a “wrecking ball” to public health services, with potentially devastating consequences for vulnerable populations.
As the St. George clinic prepares to close, local residents and students are left grappling with the loss of a crucial healthcare provider. For many, the nearest alternative Planned Parenthood location will be in Las Vegas, roughly 120 miles away — an obstacle that further underscores the challenges faced by those who rely on affordable reproductive care in underserved areas.
The Logan clinic is scheduled to shut down on April 30, further reducing access to vital healthcare services across Utah.