Planned Parenthood says anti-abortion activists shut down its Paso Robles clinic

A Planned Parenthood health clinic operating at a Paso Robles housing complex recently stopped providing services after anti-abortion activists pressured the property owner, the organization said.

The satellite clinic operated for two months at Canyon Creek Apartments in Paso Robles, a Peoples' Self-Help Housing complex where an existing health center was already operating.

Planned Parenthood provided breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control and sexually transmitted infection testing two days per week with help from a Dignity Health grant.

Thirty-two patients visited the clinic during its first month of operation, according to the organization.

Planned Parenthood began providing services on Feb. 5, and the grant funding was supposed to last for a year, according to Jenna Tosh, CEO of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast.

But at the end of March, Peoples' Self-Help Housing chose to end the partnership that allowed the clinic to operate at the complex.

Tosh said the housing nonprofit told Planned Parenthood its board of directors decided to cancel the clinic due to hostile emails from anti-Planned Parenthood activists.

"I think that they felt enormous pressure," she said. "We're disappointed they decided to end the partnerships."

John Fowler, president of Peoples' Self-Help, confirmed his organization received angry anti-abortion emails. But he said the nonprofit expected such a reaction to the partnership, and that's not why it ended.

"We made a decision it wasn't a good fit for our facility," he said.

Fowler said the additional traffic to the clinic made it "more of a business thing than a service for our residents."

The SLO Noor Foundation, a nonprofit that provides medical services to uninsured adults, will continue operating at the Canyon Creek complex — although services will be provided fewer days per week, Fowler said.

Dignity Health provided the grant money based on a survey that indicated women in the North County didn't have access to breast and cervical cancer screenings, according to Planned Parenthood.

Residents in need of the services the organization provides now must travel 30 miles south to San Luis Obispo, where the closest clinic is located.

Tosh said the organization is evaluating options and figuring out its next move in the North County.

“Planned Parenthood believes that access to health care is a human right," she said in a statement. "We will never give up, or back down, when faced with opposition. It’s disappointing that anti-Planned Parenthood activists were able to interfere with this critical expansion of care in Paso Robles. Today and every day, our commitment to providing care, no matter what, remains resolute.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2018 at 6:19 PM with the headline "Planned Parenthood says anti-abortion activists shut down its Paso Robles clinic."