America's largest abortion provider is struggling against a downward trend since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision clarified that abortion is not a constitutional right but a matter for state laws.

Last August the NY Times reported that abortion clinics all over the country were going broke. In February of this year the Times offered a follow-up focusing on botched abortions, substandard care and shrinking numbers of patients at Planned Parenthood in particular. Not long ago the organization had 5 million patients in a year. These days they have about 2 million.

Today the Associated Press reports that 8 more clinics in Iowa and Minnesota are closing.

Four of the six Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa and four in Minnesota will shut down in a year, the Midwestern affiliate operating them said Friday, blaming a freeze in federal funds, budget cuts proposed in Congress and state restrictions on abortion.

The clinics closing in Iowa include the only Planned Parenthood facility in the state that provides abortion procedures, in Ames, home to Iowa State University...

"We have been fighting to hold together an unsustainable infrastructure as the landscape shifts around us and an onslaught of attacks continues," Ruth Richardson, the affiliate's president and CEO, said in a statement.

Things are likely about to get much worse. The Republican mega bill making its way through congress this week will make further cuts to Planned Parenthood.

...the bill contains provisions that have alarmed health care advocates since they first showed up in earlier versions of the bill. Among them is a plan seeking to defund Planned Parenthood, which the organization warns will affect its ability to provide critical services, including pap smears, cancer screenings, and birth control.

But on Thursday, two last-minute additions went even further: The reconciliation bill that was passed now seeks to ban Affordable Care Act health care plans from covering abortion and gender-affirming care for all Medicaid patients, including adults, after initially proposing to ban care for just minors.

The Reproductive Freedom Caucus co-led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley issued a statement calling the possible cuts to PP the equivalent of an abortion ban.

Donald Trump and @HouseGOP’s claims that they will not ban abortion nationwide were always a lie.

Overnight, the receipts came in. We will continue to call out this attack on the people for exactly what it is: a Big Bogus Backdoor abortion ban.

Read our full statement👇 . pic.twitter.com/8Hc0hodeTK

— Reproductive Freedom Caucus (@ReproCaucus) May 22, 2025

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood is leaning on its celebrity backers for support. This is supposed to be a show of strength but it feels a bit desperate to me. Is this all they have left?

In a full-page ad that ran in The New York Times May 21, the organization looped together 250 well-known signatories under the phrase "I'm For Planned Parenthood."

Included on the list were young internet tastemakers like Addison Rae, Drew Afualo and Brittany Broski, and Hollywood veterans like Busy Philipps, Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron.

Ella Emhoff, the daughter of former first gentleman Doug Emhoff, also added her name to the list, as did a host of male celebrities including Harry Styles, Jon Cryer, Billy Eichner and George Lopez. Megan Thee Stallion and Olivia Rodrigo, both vocal supporters of abortion access, also signed the list.

So there you have it. Planned Parenthood was already on life support and if the "Big, Beautiful Bill" passes it will effectively pull the plug on their finances. More clinics will need to close whether Megan Thee Stallion likes it or not. What gets downplayed (or left out entirely) by major newspapers is that as clinics close, more babies live.

The analysis of birth data found that in the states with abortion bans, the rate of births per 1,000 women of reproductive age increased by 1.7 percent more than would be expected from previous years’ data...

In states with abortion bans, that increase translated to 22,180 more births than expected, the researchers said.

You won't find anyone in the media doing follow-ups with these 22,180 children. No one will attend their 1st birthday party or ask the mothers if they regret having them. The media has decided it's just better not to say anything. Unless it's a horror story about a woman who couldn't get an abortion it's a non-story. No one in the major media outlets will admit that's how it works, of course, but that is how it works.