Planned Parenthood Great Plains plans to restart care in Louisiana, bringing telehealth services statewide and returning in-person care to New Orleans later this year.
The organization announced that expanded telehealth services are expected to begin later this summer. In-person care in New Orleans is expected to return this fall.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains said services will include contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming care, pregnancy testing, menopause and perimenopause care, vasectomies, cancer screenings and other preventive health services.
Louisiana will become part of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains network, which also serves Arkansas, Kansas, western Missouri and Oklahoma. The organization is an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and operates 13 health centers across the region.
The return comes after Louisiana’s previous Planned Parenthood affiliate closed in September 2025. In the announcement, Planned Parenthood Great Plains described the closure as the result of years of political and legal pressure that made it harder to operate in the state.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the return of care shows the organization’s commitment to staying in the South.
“Access to reproductive health care has become increasingly uneven across the United States,” McGill Johnson noted in the announcement. “The return of care underscores Planned Parenthood’s commitment to remaining in the South to meet people where they are.”
Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said patients and supporters have asked for Planned Parenthood to return to Louisiana.
“We’re committed to ensuring care returns quickly and that this next phase builds on the decades of Planned Parenthood history here,” Wales stated.
Dr. Iman Alsaden, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said disruptions in care can lead patients to delay or go without preventive services.
“As care is restored in Louisiana, our priority is ensuring patients can once again depend on a trusted source of care close to home,” Alsaden said.
Pamela Steeg, a local supporter and reproductive rights advocate, said she is working with Planned Parenthood Great Plains as care returns to the state.
“Access to health care is essential, not optional,” Steeg said.
Planned Parenthood Direct has remained available in Louisiana through a web and mobile app while the state has been without an in-state Planned Parenthood health center.
Attorney General Liz Murill’s office issued a statement saying, “Planned Parenthood built a business around promoting death. Abortion remains illegal in Louisiana – including any attempt by activists to facilitate the trafficking of dangerous and illegal pills through the mail or via “telehealth”.
Care in Louisiana will be provided by Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma as part of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains network.
