SAN FRANCISCO, California, March 3, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Golden Gate Health Community (GGCH), a former Planned Parenthood affiliate and major provider of abortion services in the San Francisco Bay Area, will close all of its facilities this month.
The San Francisco Bay Citizen is reporting that, according to a former employee, staff were notified of the closures on Monday afternoon. GGCH’s main facility in San Francisco will remain open until mid-March, but all other locations will close by the end of the week. Employees were also notified Monday of the discontinuation of their insurance and medical benefits.
“After thoroughly researching and examining our options, we made the difficult decision to close our health centers. The Board of Trustees will work to obtain financing in the hopes of reopening as soon as possible,” said GGCH President and CEO Therese Wilson, in a Tuesday news release.
Last ditch fundraising efforts to re-open the clinics are unlikely to succeed, according to GGCH Attorney Andrea Porter.
“I think that chance is extremely slim, because we’ve been in trouble for months. We’ve gone out to the community and the money is just not there,” she told the Bay Citizen.
GGCH Board Members have said that they would need an additional $1.2 million to reopen for the long term.
The organization, which was formerly known as Planned Parenthood of Golden Gate, changed its name last year when it lost its affiliation with Planned Parenthood amid suspicions of financial mismanagement.
As a Planned Parenthood affiliate, the group made headlines in 2003 when it was implicated in the death of 18-year-old Holly Patterson, who died of septic shock after taking the RU-486 abortion drug. After experiencing severe cramping, bleeding, and vomiting, Patterson was initially told by the clinic to take more painkillers. She was eventually hospitalized and died three days later.
The organization has also drawn attention for its controversial advertisements mocking religion and depicting pro-life demonstrators being shot by a “superhero for choice,” and for its role in defeating California ballot initiatives requiring parental notification for abortions performed on minors.
According to a Life Legal Defense Foundation press release, Planned Parenthood of Golden Gate contributed a combined total of over $750,000 towards the defeat of these initiatives when they appeared on the California ballot in 2005, 2006 and 2008.
“As Congress debates continued funding of Planned Parenthood, it should take note of the organization’s spending priorities,” said LLDF President Dana Cod. “Furthering Planned Parenthood’s political agenda apparently was more important than providing all those ‘critical health services’ that we keep hearing about.”