Featuring medical student Divya Kikker, MSFC's chapter leader at Tulane University.

Planned Parenthood’s health centers in New Orleans and Baton Rouge will shut down indefinitely at the end of this month, leaving residents throughout the state worried about how the closures will impact access to reproductive health care and other services the company has provided for over 40 years.

The company announced in early August that it would be shutting down its Louisiana clinics amid a wave of closures across the United States. Abby Ledoux, vice president of communications and marketing for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, told Verite News the organization cannot sustainably continue its operations in a political climate of constant litigation, funding cuts and the rising costs of delivering care. Reproductive health care advocates, physicians and patients who have used the clinic said that the closures will impact marginalized Louisianians who face challenges accessing many of the services that Planned Parenthood offers…