WACO (January 4, 2012)—Effective Wednesday, Planned Parenthood of Waco has moved the health center at which it performs abortions from 1927 Columbus Ave. into what used to be the organization’s administrative offices at 1121 Ross Ave. Suite A.
The decision to move the Family Planning and Surgical Services clinic was the result of a review of cost-saving strategies to ensure that funds are used efficiently, Pam Smallwood, Interim Co-CEO of Planned Parenthood said.
Last summer, abortion opponents leased a house next door to the Columbus Avenue clinic, but it’s not clear whether that factored into the decision to close the facility.
In a press release Wednesday, John Piscotta, director of Pro-Life Waco, called the closing “wonderful news for the immediate neighborhood and in particular the nearby Waco Montessori School.”
But Piscotta said the move “shatters any pretense that Planned Parenthood’s abortion business in separate from its birth control business.”
Planned Parenthood says no government funds are used to support abortion care and says that more than 96 percent of the services it provides are preventive including breast and cervical cancer screenings, birth control annual exams and HIV and diabetes screening.
In July, Planned Parenthood of Central Texas, which operates the facilities in Waco and health centers in Marlin and Groesbeck announced that it was merging with Austin’s Planned Parenthood.
Waco’s Planned Parenthood has long been the focus of pro-life groups and its popular, but controversial Nobody’s Fool sex education program has been a particular target of protesters.
