After months of financial strain, Planned Parenthood will receive a $140 million lifeline to offset losses sustained following Congress’s July funding cuts to the health system, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday. This funding will help Planned Parenthood keep 109 California clinics open.
In a statement, Newsom emphasized that the move reflects the state’s continued commitment to abortion and reproductive health care. “Trump’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood put all our communities at risk as people seek basic health care from these community providers,” Newsom said.
Lawmakers are also expected to address the issue when the Legislature reconvenes in January.
### Clinic Closures and Financial Impact
This announcement comes just one week after Planned Parenthood announced it would eliminate primary care services at clinics in Orange and San Bernardino counties. Additionally, five other clinics closed in July throughout the Bay Area, Santa Cruz, and Central Valley, all due to federal defunding.
Planned Parenthood requires approximately $27 million monthly to operate all its local facilities, according to Jodi Hicks, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, the organization’s statewide advocacy group.
“We’re incredibly grateful that we’ve found a way to get some funding out to our Planned Parenthood health centers so they can remain operating and continue services,” said Hicks.
California becomes the fourth state—after Washington, Colorado, and New Mexico—to pledge public funds to keep Planned Parenthood afloat. Lawmakers in Oregon and New York are also considering similar measures.
### Federal Funding Cuts and Their Effects
Republicans have long targeted Planned Parenthood over contraceptive and abortion services. A 1977 federal law banned funding for abortions, but this summer President Donald Trump took additional steps to cut funding for the nation’s largest abortion provider.
His sweeping tax and budget bill prohibited Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid dollars for any services, including mammograms, pap smears, birth control, and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment.
According to Planned Parenthood, abortions account for less than 10% of its services, with other reproductive health services comprising the majority of care provided.
These federal funding losses have forced Planned Parenthood to close clinics nationwide, where half of all patients depend on Medicaid. In California—where 80% of Planned Parenthood patients are covered by Medicaid, known in the state as Medi-Cal—the impact has been especially severe.
“There was definitely an outsized impact on California,” Hicks said.
### Ripple Effects of Primary Care Closures
Democratic lawmakers, Gov. Newsom, and Planned Parenthood have spent much of the year seeking a funding solution that protects reproductive health access without relying on federal dollars. However, faced with a multibillion-dollar state deficit, progress has been slow and challenging.
“We’ll fight like hell to maintain access to care in the coming months and years,” said Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, a Democrat from Davis who leads the Legislative Women’s Caucus.
Despite the state’s pledge to protect sexual and reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood clinics face growing uncertainty amid federal grant freezes, lawsuits, and some proposed state cuts.
Last week, Planned Parenthood in Orange and San Bernardino counties announced it would close primary care services on December 13. The group, which operates nine health centers, had added primary care over a decade ago to serve low-income patients unable to find appointments elsewhere.
Dr. Janet Jacobson, medical director of the Orange and San Bernardino clinics, described the federal actions as “destroying our primary care program.” She expressed concern that patients with urgent mental health needs or chronic conditions will struggle to find alternative providers quickly, especially as many communities in the region have a shortage of doctors according to state data.
Roughly 13,000 patients will lose access to care, and Planned Parenthood will lay off 77 staff members.
“It’s inhumane to take away people’s health care,” Jacobson said. “Folks that have Medi-Cal should be able to see the provider of their choice for primary care.”
Aguiar-Curry called the loss of primary care “unacceptable and dangerous.”
### Seeking Stability Amid a Looming ‘Financial Cliff’
Farther north, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, which runs 30 health centers along the California coast, Central Valley, and Nevada, closed five health centers in July shortly after the federal funding cuts took effect.
Mar Monte Chief of Staff Andrew Adams said the organization has been working hard to maintain financial stability. The closures have helped preserve services at remaining clinics through the end of the year, but Adams warned of a potential “financial cliff” in January.
“We are planning for an environment where there is no federal funding,” Adams said. “What that looks like is having to potentially charge patients some amount of money for services we provide.”
Other Planned Parenthood affiliates in California are exploring ways to reduce costs and increase revenue while keeping clinics open for patients.
### The Importance of Continued Access to Care
Dr. Neda Ashtari, a former Planned Parenthood and Medi-Cal patient, emphasized the critical need for more than one million patients to maintain access to cancer screenings and other reproductive health services.
Ashtari shared a personal story about her mother, who died of breast cancer after missing routine screenings that might have detected the disease earlier. “It really crystallizes that this preventative care is the difference between life or death,” she said.
### About the California Health Care Foundation
This coverage is supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), an organization dedicated to ensuring that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. To learn more, visit [www.chcf.org](http://www.chcf.org).
https://calmatters.org/health/2025/10/california-gives-planned-parenthood-140-million-boost-to-keep-clinics-open/
