Ferguson ultimately won. But now, in a striking reversal of his and his party’s campaign-trail promises, it’s Democratic lawmakers who are poised to cut funding for abortion services—cuts that, according to the state’s Planned Parenthood chapter, could force clinics in the state to close their doors.
Washington launched the Abortion Access Project shortly after Dobbs to invest state funding toward keeping reproductive health clinics open. This involved almost $20 million in funding allocated to support workforce security among abortion providers, clinic staff, and telehealth providers, as well as support for the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, which helps patients pay for abortion care.
But KOMO News warns that, if Ferguson signs the budget, abortion providers could be unable to retain and support enough staff to serve the increasing number of patients. In a statement, Jennifer M. Allen, CEO of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates serving Alaska, Hawai’i, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington, warned that the budget “will strain our health care system, deepen inequities, and risk lives.”
Ferguson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the governor would sign the budget bill should it reach his desk, nor whether he sees the budget as a reversal of his and the Washington Democratic Party’s campaign promises. In a statement shared with Jezebel, state Sen. Manka Dhingra (D), deputy majority leader of the state Senate, explained, “Like many states, we are grappling with a budget deficit post-Covid that’s been made worse by the chaos and unpredictability of what’s coming at us from the federal level.”
Further, a spokesperson for Washington Lt. Gov. Denny Heck (D), who simultaneously serves as president of the state Senate, told Jezebel “the Lt. Governor is not a budget negotiator, nor did he vote on the operating budget that passed the Senate,” pointing instead to state Senate Democratic Caucus leaders. Spokespeople for the state Senate president pro tempore, vice president pro tempore, majority meader, and majority caucus chair didn’t immediately provide comment on the budget.
Dhingra further touted the state’s long record of supporting abortion access since Dobbs, calling Washington “a national leader in abortion access for decades.” She continued, “Following the Dobbs decision, we dramatically increased financial support for abortion access in our 2023-25 operating budget in three key areas: patient outreach, security, and workforce retention and recruitment. Over the last two years, providers should have brought their staffing to the levels necessary to meet increased demand.” Because of that previous increase, Dhingra said abortion providers in the state should already be equipped to meet rising needs: “That, paired with the budget reality we are facing, led to the proposal to eliminate the workforce retention and recruitment component of the funding. The state will still provide funding for outreach and security, in addition to payment for all reproductive services provided.” Dhingra stressed that writing the state’s budget was “an extremely difficult task this session,” pointing to “an estimated $16 billion deficit over the next four years,” which “required reductions in areas where our state has historically led.”
“This reduction was made thoughtfully with the goal of minimizing harm. In terms of abortion funding and access, Washington remains a national leader despite this reduction,” Dhingra said. “For years, we have led the way with policies and funding to protect patients and providers from the extremist abortion laws being passed in other states.”
Allen disagrees. She didn’t mince words in a statement responding to the severe budget reduction, accusing the legislature of “[failing] their constituents, proposing devastating cuts to Washingtonians’ abortion access at the same time the Trump administration is attacking reproductive health and rights.” Earlier this month, Trump’s Health and Human Services Department froze tens of millions of dollars in Title X funding for over a dozen reproductive health providers, including nine state-level Planned Parenthood organizations. “By moving forward with an $8.5 million cut to the Abortion Access Project—the biggest in our state’s history—the legislature is turning its back on the patients, providers, and communities who count on Washington as a leader on access to abortion care,” Allen wrote.
In December, Abortion Care Network, a network of independent abortion and reproductive care clinics across the country, published a report that showed growing numbers of clinics are being forced to shut their doors, even in states that are known as Democratic strongholds. The report showed that between 2022 and 2024, 76 independent abortion clinics closed—42 in 2022, 23 in 2023, and, as of November, 11 in 2024. Of the 11 closures last year, eight were in states where abortion rights are protected. Nikki Madsen, co-executive director of ACN, told Jezebel at the time that this is because even in states where abortion remains legal, significant barriers to operating independent clinics persist. As demand for their services surges due to an increase in out-of-state patients, their already limited resources are stretched ever thinner.
“Budgets are moral documents. A cut to abortion access funding should never have been on the table,” Allen said. “We will not stop fighting to fund the care that patients deserve and protect access to abortion care for all who need it.”
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