Fox Valley abortion clinic closing
Madison — Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is closing a Fox Valley abortion clinic, preventing women from accessing abortion anywhere north of Madison and Milwaukee in the state.
The announcement comes two months after a legal victory for Planned Parenthood that supporters of abortion rights hoped would keep open clinics like the one in Grand Chute, near Appleton.
But the organization announced Monday it was closing the Grand Chute clinic because of security concerns. Planned Parenthood conducted a review of its facilities after a shooting last year at one of its clinics in Colorado Springs, Colo., and found the Grand Chute clinic did not have enough protections.
The clinic suspended providing abortions in October 2015 because of a temporary staff shortage. The staff shortage has since been resolved and is not related to the decision to close the clinic, said Chris Williams, chief operating officer of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.
Making the necessary security upgrades would have cost nearly $300,000 — about twice the value of the clinic, Williams said in a conference call with reporters. The lot the clinic sits on also is not large enough to accommodate the needed security changes, said Iris Riis, a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman.
Planned Parenthood and another abortion provider sued the state in 2013, as soon as GOP Gov. Scott Walker signed a law that would have required doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of where they perform abortions. A federal judge blocked that law and an appeals court upheld the ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in June, a day after striking down a similar law in Texas. The abortion providers are now seeking $1.8 million from Wisconsin taxpayers to cover their legal costs.
Making sure women in northern Wisconsin had access to abortion was one of the arguments Planned Parenthood used to strike down the admitting privileges law. Despite winning, the Fox Valley clinic will close.
Kathy Hartke, chairwoman of the Wisconsin section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the closing of the clinic would harm low-income women who can't afford to travel hundreds of miles and an overnight stay to get an abortion. She blamed the closure on violent rhetoric by abortion opponents, restrictions on the procedure approved by Republicans and the repeal of a law that required Wisconsin schools to provide comprehensive sex education.
"These women are suffering due to political maneuvering," Hartke said of women who won't be able to get abortions in the area.
Heather Weininger, the executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said she was thrilled with the decision to close the clinic and disputed Hartke's contentions about what caused it.
"I don't think it has to do with politics," Weininger said. "They're going to blame anything they can for their reduction in revenue. I think it has to do with the changing of hearts and minds."
About 600 abortions were provided at the clinic in 2014. That represents a little over 10% of the 5,800 abortions that were performed in Wisconsin that year, according to state figures.
Planned Parenthood continues to operate abortion clinics in Madison and Milwaukee. Another provider, Affiliated Medical Services, also has an abortion clinic in Milwaukee.
Women in northern Wisconsin could also travel to Minneapolis for abortions. The service is also provided, on a very infrequent basis, in Marquette, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula.
A separate Appleton clinic that provides birth control and cancer screenings will remain open.
Francis G. Grady set fire to the Grand Chute abortion clinic in 2012. A federal judge sentenced him to 11 years in prison in February 2013. Grady died in prison in January.
In 1978, the building was fire-bombed less than 24 hours after it was announced that the clinic had performed 13 abortions. A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a window. No one was hurt.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin officials said security reviews were performed at clinics across the country after the Colorado Springs shooting, but they did not know of any others that were closing.
Ethan Safran of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this report from Appleton.