Missouri Women's health clinic to close after funding cuts

Alia Paavola -

Joplin, Mo.-based Women's Health and Family Planning Clinic will close in April due to a lack of funding, according to The Joplin Globe.

The Economic Security Corp., which has operated the women's program in Joplin for 43 years, said political tensions surrounding abortion and women's health caused a steady decline in federal funding over the past few years.

"The legislators have difficulty in trying to separate our funding, where we offer no abortion services, from those organizations that do," John Joines, CEO of the ESC, told The Joplin Globe. "We've been hit extremely hard."

 
The clinic, which offers sexual health tests, family planning services and birth control, operated at a $50,000 deficit each year and needed outside funding to remain financially viable, according to ESC officials.

It is unclear if the closure will result in layoffs. 

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