Within the span of one year, effects from the Trump administration’s H.R. 1, or “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA) have forced nearly 30 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country to close their doors. 

“More and more clinics will begin to close, and will most likely be unable to reopen due to the irreparable damage defunding has caused,” Mahilet Tedros wrote in a message to City on a Hill Press. Tedros is a fourth-year and secretary of UCSC’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA), a support collective that provides free sexual healthcare education and materials across campus. 

Section 71113 of the OBBBA barred Planned Parenthood from billing Medicaid for its services. Less than three weeks after the bill was signed, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (PPMM) — a 30-clinic network in central California and Nevada — closed its Santa Cruz location permanently along with four others, facing a projected loss of $300 million in federal funds across California locations.  

Now, thousands of former patients are searching for alternative spaces for reproductive, sexual and gender-affirming healthcare since the bill’s enactment. Many are heading to the nearest clinic located in Watsonville, over an hour-and-a-half bus ride south. 

Tedros spoke about the effects of this commute, referring to intrauterine birth control devices.

“Getting something like an IUD, for example, can be very hard on the body,” she said. “Having to go so far away, and then having to drive yourself back, especially if no one’s there for you, can be dangerous. Depending on how your body reacts to something like that, [it] can be very detrimental on the body and on your mental [health] as well.”

Section 71113 of H.R. 1 expired on July 4, 2026. With the section’s expiration, about 80 percent of PPMM patients who rely on California’s specific version of Medicaid, Medi-Cal, can once again access vital services through their coverage. 

However, despite the reinstated ability to bill Medicaid, the Santa Cruz clinic remains closed, with no plans to reopen as of publication. 

Faced with increased federal hostility, Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation are seeking alternative funding options. For PPMM, this includes California state funding and personal philanthropy, which reached $16 million last year. Donors are encouraged to send monetary gifts via PPMM’s website. 

The need for sudden adjustment not only concerns federal funding sources, but Watsonville clinic-specific patient influxes. With the Santa Cruz clinic closed, the Santa Cruz Chanticleer Center location of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation remains the only medical facility in the city that provides abortion services covered by Medi-Cal. 

Alternate Options: UC SHIP, Watsonville or Telehealth?

The UC Student Health Insurance Plan (UC SHIP) does offer both gender-affirming healthcare and abortion services across all 10 campuses, including UCSC. However, this covers only about 120,000 students who are enrolled in the plan, compared to the over 300,000 in the UC system as a whole. 

In an email to City on a Hill Press, Erin Elliot, UCSC’s communications director for student success and campus climate highlighted changes the university has made in order to support the students without on-campus healthcare.

“For students who need medical care off campus in Santa Cruz County, the university can provide transportation assistance through a transportation service, including for abortion services,” she wrote. “Referrals to Planned Parenthood in Watsonville remain rare and are generally made only at a student’s request.”

Elizabeth Molina, a PPMM grassroots organizer, spoke about alternative options for Santa Cruz County residents in place of or as a complement to taking the bus. She added that PPMM’s online availability via telehealth allows some patients to receive the care they need without the commute.

She continued that her advocacy work for PPMM expands beyond fighting for accessible sexual healthcare. 

“Coming into this space, you start noticing that it’s not just repro[ductive] rights,” Molina said. “Your repro[ductive] rights are immigrant rights or queer rights are workers’ rights. While this is a healthcare-based organization and mission, we are also in the same fight when it comes to trans rights, when it comes to labor rights. As an immigrant family [member] myself, it’s all intersectional.”

Mahilet Tedros echoed this sentiment.

“It’s been really eerie for all of us to see how the current administration’s acts are actively affecting us,” Tedros said. “We’re at that age where a lot of the new laws and bills that are passing are affecting us currently, and will affect us in the future if we don’t do something about it now.”