Cleveland Planned Parenthood Location in Midtown Shuts Down, Cites Trump Administration's Medicaid Cuts

The Midtown Planned Parenthood in September of 2022, two months before Ohio voters decide to pass Issue 1 and keep abortion access legal. The clinic decided to close this weekend. Credit: Scene archives

Cleveland just lost some access to reproductive care.

The Planned Parenthood in Midtown, in the Shops at Church Square at 7997 Euclid Avenue, shut down last weekend due to cuts to federal funds that the clinic needed to operate.

In a message to donors Sunday, Erica Wilson-Domer, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said that the Trump administration’s freezing of Title X funds was one of the “driving factors” behind shuttering one of Cleveland’s only reproductive care clinics.

The clinics in Old Brooklyn, Rocky River and Bedford Heights will still remain open, Wilson-Domer said. Patients at the Midtown clinic will be referred to those locations.

“We will continue to reach out to patients,” she wrote, “and be here for them, no matter what.”

The choking of federal dollars used by clinics around the country to provide access to fertility treatments and to perform abortions is no surprise when considering months of executive orders that were clear on the federal stance towards such medical procedures.

A sign posted on the clinic’s door blames the Trump administration for its closure. Credit: Mark Oprea

Since January 24, Trump has directed at least three federal departments to cease using taxpayer dollars for “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.” He also pardoned two people who were arrested and convicted on felony charges for obstructing access to a Nashville clinic.

The Cleveland clinic closure comes amid heightened political tensions for reproductive care.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 6-3 that two Planned Parenthood clinics in South Carolina were not allowed to sue the state for withholding Medicaid dollars it needed to provide access to abortions.

Squeezing those Title X dollars, typically earmarked for social services in low-income areas, has mostly impacted services in mostly red states. Since the Supreme Court decision, dozens of Planned Parenthoods have closed, including four in Minnesota, four in Iowa and four in Michigan.

Erica Wilson-Domer did not respond to comment from Scene in time for publication.

On Monday, black metal doors sheathed what was once a quiet clinic with tinted windows.

A placard was fixed to the door, reading: “Ongoing attacks from the Trump administration have disrupted the essential services we provide to the Cleveland community, including birth control, cancer screenings and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.”

The clinic directed current patients to reschedule appointments or transfer records via MyChart or by calling 1-800-230-7526.

Despite the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the retaliatory Issue 1 vote to solidify abortion access the following year in Ohio, the procedure is still legal in the state up to the point of fetal viability, which is typically 23 weeks after conception.