Planned Parenthood Stops Some Abortions in Missoula, Montana 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 23, 2006
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Montana will have one less facility that performs surgical abortions when Planned Parenthood stops doing them at its Missoula center in February. The nation’s largest abortion business says it wants its facility there to focus on other medical services.
The abortions at Planned Parenthood may end on February 1, but that doesn’t mean Missoula, a largely pro-abrotion city, won’t be without an abortion center. Blue Mountain Clinic, a private abortion business, currently does most of the abortions in the western Montana area.
Beth Cogswell told the Missoulian newspaper that Planned Parenthood will now focus its energies on pap smears and birth control supplies.
Though surgical abortions will no longer be performed, the Missoula Planned Parenthood will continue to dispense the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. It has been responsible for the deaths of several women in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere.
The Food and Drug Administration reports nearly 700 women have experienced complications, with many of them severe or life-threatening. It has placed its toughest warning label on the abortion pills.
Cogswell also admitted to the newspaper that if an abortion business wasn’t already located in town, Planned Parenthood would not have stopped performed surgical abortions. She indicated her outfit would continue to refer women to Blue Mountain Clinic.
Raquel Castellanos, executive director of Blue Mountain says her business expects a 50 percent increase in the number of abortions and is looking to expand its hours.
“Typically, we’ve provided about 500 abortions a year. We’re preparing to do about 750 by restructuring and looking at hours," she told the Missoulian.
Planned Parenthood performed 312 abortions last year.
Elsewhere around Montana, Helena, Missoula, Kalispell and Billings have abortion centers, but Bozeman and Great Falls do not. Planned Parenthood says it’s considering putting an abortion facility in Bozeman, a fast-growing college town.
“There is interest in Bozeman,” Cogswell said. “We have to look at the bigger picture.”
