Patient reacts to Gainesville Planned Parenthood to closing next month

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) -Patients are reacting after learning the city’s Planned Parenthood health center will close its doors next month.

Patients were notified Wednesday. Planned Parenthood of Florida says the closure is part of an effort to align health centers with patient needs and changes in patient volume.

The organization says patients will still be able to receive services and access medical records through June 26.

For longtime patients like Rebekah Grace Hart, she worries about what happens next for people who rely on the clinic for health care services.

“I’ve been getting birth control very low prices. I’ve been getting an annual women’s health STD testing,” said Rebekah Grace Hart, a patient at Planned Parenthood.

The nearest Planned Parenthood location after this closure will be in Jacksonville — about 80 miles away.

This is not the first Planned Parenthood location to close in Florida this year. A location in Lakeland shut down earlier this spring.

“I have a lot of friends that their included and now our option is Jacksonville so that’s really just disheartening because it’s not a luxury or a privileged that lots of people have to be able to go out of the city to just receive pre-regular healthcare,” Hart said.

The closure comes a little more than two years after Florida lawmakers approved a ban on abortion after six weeks.

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