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By Guy Page
As the number of pro-life pregnancy resource clinics grows in Vermont, the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood announced it will close another office.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) announced Tuesday that it will permanently close its St. Johnsbury health center on June 3, citing ongoing financial challenges and low patient demand, the Caledonian-Record reported today.
The center, located at 501 Portland Street, opened in December 2012. With the site closure, Planned Parenthood now has five Vermont clinics, compared to 10 pregnancy resource clinics statewide.
Nicole Clegg, President and CEO of PPNNE, described the decision as “very difficult,” noting that the organization had made repeated efforts over the past five years to keep in-person care available in St. Johnsbury.
“We attempted many different investments and organizational changes to tackle the complexities of delivering care in St. Johnsbury, but the challenges persisted,” Clegg said, as quoted by the Caledonian-Record.
Those challenges, according to PPNNE Vice President of Public Affairs Jessica Barquist, included staffing shortages, high operational costs, low insurance reimbursement rates, and persistently low patient volume.
“In 2024, the St. Johnsbury center saw just 688 patients — only 4% of the total 15,960 patients served in Vermont,” Barquist said. “This low patient demand has been a trend for many years, and unfortunately, the location has operated with the greatest financial loss among all our 14 health centers in the region.”
PPNNE is currently operating under a significant deficit budget. While health care costs have increased dramatically, reimbursement rates from insurance providers have not kept pace, further straining the nonprofit’s financial stability.
Despite the closure, the two employees at the St. Johnsbury location will remain employed within the PPNNE network.
Barquist emphasized that PPNNE remains committed to ensuring continuity of care for patients. Those who have relied on the St. Johnsbury center will have access to services via PPNNE’s Telehealth platform or at other physical locations, including Barre and White River Junction — now the closest health centers for residents of the Northeast Kingdom.
PPNNE is also offering referrals to other local providers and working closely with patients to ensure a smooth transition.
The closure follows the 2022 shutdown of PPNNE’s Newport office, which had made the St. Johnsbury center the sole Planned Parenthood site in the region. At that time, resources were reallocated to expand services in St. Johnsbury, including plans to launch a medication abortion program.
Planned Parenthood owns the Portland Street building, which it purchased in 2015 for $290,000. The future of the property remains unclear.
“This is not a decision that was made lightly,” said Barquist. “It comes with emotions of sadness for our staff, our patients, and our community. But it’s one we believe is necessary for our organization’s future and our ability to serve patients across the region.”
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Categories: Life&Death
I guess the free money from other NGO’s and the tax payer are no longer funding the democratic electtion machine, huh….
Wonder when VTDigger will fall? They seem to be publishing about 1/10th what they used to do. No commenting, Vermont citizens still no longer able to comment and call out the lies.
VDC is clearly the dominant news source in Vermont now, kudos. And it’s not like he won’t publish other points of view and everybody is free to comment here.
Well done VDC!
VT Dems could be losing $3500 per candidate of free money next election!
Babies unite….freedom and life!
Interesting. Maybe those patients are going to clinics that offer different types of health care. Not just one.
Yeah, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Babies are rejoicing in the womb.
Praise God. An answer to prayer. FYI, a brand new 40 Days for Life campaign commenced in St. Johnsbury on Wednesday, March 23, 2025, at that very clinic. Again, praise God and Hallelujah!
Praise God!
Let us continue to pray for every PP in Vermont to shut down, their finds dry completely up, babies, moms, and dads to be offered and receive abundant life at every PRC in Vermont, every abortion worker be delivered and transformed by the love of Jesus, and abortion to become unthinkable here and in the USA!
AMEN Tom and Martin!
With the distribution of the abortion pill far and wide, is this really a win for life? Are we really saving the unborn babies? Or are they getting abortions elsewhere?
It is absolutely a win for life!
While we don’t the answers to your rhetorical questions, gail, we do know that the ramifications of any PP facility closing is always a win.
We could have asked the same question about one plantation closing in 1860. Or one concentration camp closing in 1942. Won’t those released slaves just become someone else’s slaves? Won’t those Jews released just be gassed somewhere else?
We can choose to see every PP closing as a win and an act of God’s love in answer total the cries and prayers of His people.
-It is a win for those who have prayed, fasted, and publicly stood in solidarity WITH the babies, moms, and dads for many years, and AGAINST the evil propagated by PP.
-It is a win for every employee of that PP facility who now has a little more time and space to consider the horror of what he or she has been participating in, and can now take the opportunity to find grace, mercy, repentance, forgiveness, and salvation, and participate in giving life instead of taking it.
-It is a win for every mom and dad who can find compassionate hope, help, and Christ-centered support as they face pregnancy decisions; the truth about human life in the womb at the eight PRCs in Vermont; and being spared from a lifetime of regret from the physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma and devastation of abortion.
-It is a win for one child and for the whole world if even one preborn baby’s life is saved because that PP facility has closed.
Praise God!
The fiscal implosion can be attributed to Kamala and Company blowing through $1.5 billion (just her, no tallies on other DNC candidates) and USAID, HHS, Medicaid funds getting audited, scrutinized, and cut. The laundromat, aka DNC, hemorraged so much money during Selection 2024, lost so many seats, and the donors are not pleased. The cuts at the DNC speak loudly and PP clinics can’t operate without eugenist, wealthy globalist donors refilling the coffers. Besides, those donors have turned their attention and funding to protesters and defending terrorists.
And all of what Melissa mentions is part of God answering the prayers and cries of His people to expose and eradicate the evil under which our nation has operated, and to raise up those with the faith, love, and courage to fight against evil and corruption and to uphold the righteousness upon which our nation was founded and without which it will not prosper or succeed.
Praise God for His intervention in this last election!