COLDWATER (WTVB) - Pro life supporters were out in force Thursday in Coldwater at the monthly meeting of the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency Board of Directors, which decided on a 3-3 tie vote not to extend the agency’s lease for office space to Planned Parenthood. Branch County Commissioners Dale Swift and Rod Olney sit on the health board and voted against extending the lease along with a Commissioner from Hillsdale County.
Planned Parenthood Services are provided through a Federal Title Ten grant, which doesn’t allow funding for abortions. The services that have been offered at the leased offices one day a week in Coldwater, Sturgis, Hillsdale, and Three Rivers also has not included any counseling on abortion, only referral information.
The Kalamazoo based provider of Planned Parenthood to South Central Michigan said its health services were used by 4-thousand women of child bearing age in the three counties.
The lease expires in 60 days. It’s not known if Planned Parenthood will continue to offer its services for women’s health in the three counties, although the program will stay active elsewhere in Southwest Michigan.
