Planned Parenthood is coming back to Louisiana this fall, with plans for a new in-person health center in New Orleans. The move marks a partial rebound after the organization shuttered its last Louisiana clinics in 2025. Officials say the new site will focus on contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, cancer screenings and other non-abortion services, restoring at least some in-person access for patients who lost local care when the affiliate pulled out of the state.
As reported by NOLA, the announcement came from Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the affiliate that serves Arkansas, Kansas, western Missouri and Oklahoma. The group says it plans to open the New Orleans health center in the fall and ramp up telehealth services across Louisiana this summer. Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma will also assist in providing care to Louisiana patients while the New Orleans location is prepared.
What the Clinic Will (and Won't) Provide
In a statement to NOLA, Planned Parenthood made one point clear: the New Orleans clinic “will not provide abortion care.” Instead, it will offer contraception, pregnancy testing, menopause care, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, vasectomies and cancer screenings. The affiliate says its telehealth expansion planned for this summer is intended to reach patients across Louisiana who still do not have clinics nearby.
The Gap Left Behind and Patient Numbers
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast closed its Louisiana health centers on Sept. 30, 2025, citing political pressures and funding shifts that made it impossible to keep operating. As CBS News reported, the New Orleans clinic had been handling large volumes of care in recent years, including thousands of family-planning visits and tens of thousands of STI tests. Those numbers highlighted just how big an access gap opened up when the doors shut. The affiliate also published a patient resource guide when it left the state, available through Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Legal and Policy Context
Louisiana currently enforces a near-total abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022. That means any Planned Parenthood clinic in the state is barred from providing abortion care under Louisiana law. Policy changes involving Medicaid reimbursement and court rulings over the past year have been central to why affiliates scaled back or exited the state, reshaping how reproductive health care is delivered across the Gulf South, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
What’s Next for Patients
Planned Parenthood Great Plains says the New Orleans center is slated to open this fall, though it has not released a specific street address or firm opening date. In the meantime, the affiliate plans to expand telehealth offerings across the state in the coming weeks and coordinate referrals with nearby affiliates to connect patients with needed care, including services that will still require traveling out of state.
