Planned Parenthood stops abortion after 20 weeks, deep sedation in NYC

Officials with Planned Parenthood of Greater New York say they will temporarily stop deep sedation services, including abortions after 20 weeks, at the organization's Manhattan clinic — the only Planned Parenthood location that provides the procedures in New York state.

The reproductive health care provider cited financial hardship as the catalyst for the changes. It is also proposing the closure of its health centers in Goshen, Amsterdam, Cobleskill and Staten Island, according to a Wednesday press release, and plans to shift those resources and services to larger, more centrally located centers. The changes were first reported by The City.

Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan Health Center will stop offering deep sedation on Sept. 3, and the clinic will continue to provide those services until then, the organization said. The site closures are scheduled to be completed this fall, pending the state health department's approval, according to the organization.

Spokesperson Senti Sojwal said Planned Parenthood of Greater New York currently covers 100% of the costs of its contracted anesthesia vendor for the Manhattan Health Center, its only vendor at any center. But the organization can no longer afford to cover the deep sedation, affecting its ability to provide procedural abortion, she said.

The organization says abortions past 20 weeks constitute less than 2% of their procedures.

“Patients who need abortion later in pregnancy are among the most vulnerable among the communities we serve,” the organization said Wednesday. “We know many cannot afford the cost of procedural abortion, and we are heartbroken that [Planned Parenthood of Greater New York] is unable at this time to absorb the cost of their sedation when provided by an outside anesthesia service.”

In an op-ed published by NYN Media last month, CEOs of Planned Parenthood’s New York affiliates said abortion bans throughout the country “threaten the sustainability of health care providers and abortion access funds, even in states considered safe for abortion care, like New York.”

The CEOs said medical practices in general were experiencing increased operational costs because of inflation, and that sexual and reproductive health providers were also dealing with “a hostile political landscape that is driving up demand for abortion care.” They also wrote that donations spurred by the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022 were leveling off, and that New York has lagged behind other states that have increased Medicaid reimbursement for medication abortions.

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York said it was “fully committed to resuming procedural abortion later in pregnancy in the near future.”

In New York, people of all ages have the right to abortion through the 24th week of pregnancy, and after 24 weeks if a medical provider determines the fetus is not viable or the pregnant person’s life, physical or mental health is at risk. Planned Parenthood’s Manhattan location was the organization's only health center that provided the service for pregnancies after 20 weeks.

The organization did not provide a timeline for the service's return. In the interim, it said, patients who need abortions later in pregnancy or deep sedation for other reasons will be referred to medical partners.

“We move into this next step understanding that the difficult decisions we are forced to make today are strategies to preserve our ability to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care in the long term amid ongoing fiscal and political challenges,” Wendy Stark, the organization’s president and CEO for Greater New York, said in a statement.

Katie Wowro was originally scheduled to get her IUD replaced on July 31. She said she’d been told deep sedations would end that day, and called to reschedule her appointment so that she could get in just before the change took effect. Sojwal, the spokesperson, clarified to Gothamist that deep sedation will remain available through Sept. 3, and apologized for any confusion around the dates.

Wowro said she had chosen Planned Parenthood, in part, because they offered deep sedation and she had experienced pain with OB-GYN care in the past.

“A difficult IUD insertion – I shouldn’t have to suffer through that,” Wowro said. “This policy change, I think, robs women of autonomy and that's really hard for me to stomach.”

Wowro added that Planned Parenthood of Greater New York still offers “a lot of amazing services,” but she said she doesn’t know if she might look for a different provider the next time she needs to get her IUD replaced.