Planned Parenthood transitions from in-person visits to ‘telehealth’ in Texas city

Planned Parenthood has announced the closure of its brick-and-mortar facility in Tyler, Texas, with a plan to switch over completely to ‘telehealth’ services.

Key Takeaways:

• The Planned Parenthood building in Tyler, Texas, closed its doors on July 17, 2025.

• The facility will be switching to ‘telehealth’ services instead.

• Planned Parenthood began to offer ‘telehealth’ in all 49 of its affiliates in 2022-23, and continues to expand it.

• Though the facility did not commit abortions, it referred women out-of-state for abortions and provided ‘gender-affirming care.’ Live Action previously revealed that this ‘care’ in some locations involved giving cross-sex hormones to minors.

The Details:

A statement from Planned Parenthood on July 17 announced the “decision to transition healthcare services in the Tyler area to telehealth via the Greater Texas Virtual Health Center and close our health center on Turtle Creek Drive for in-person appointments.”

As previously reported by Live Action Research Fellow Carole Novielli, “Planned Parenthood’s 2022-23 annual report acknowledged that ALL 49 affiliates at that time had begun offering “telehealth” services — and in 2023-24 it announced that “Virtual Health Centers (VHC) have been introduced at 23 Planned Parenthood affiliates.”

Novielli also noted:

Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury College… claimed [] market changes, in addition to federal funding cuts and regulatory uncertainties, have created “new pressures on the older school, brick-and-mortar facilities” which still maintain services for people “for whom telehealth abortion isn’t a good option…. And so it’s necessitated a lot of change for these facilities.”

Due to Texas law, Planned Parenthood facilities in the state do not commit abortions, though they are able to refer women for abortions out of state. The facility had also provided ‘gender-affirming care,’ something it continues to advertise as a telehealth service.

Though it is unclear if it serves minors, a Live Action investigation earlier this year revealed that many Planned Parenthood facilities across the nation are willing to provide cross-sex hormones to minors.

What We’re Hearing:

Local pro-lifers are praising the facility’s closure.

“This is a big victory,” Joy Patterson, the women’s pastor at CrossPointe Church in Tyler told KLTV. “Even though that particular office was not providing abortions in this area, it is our desire to see the organization itself not be a part of society in the U.S.”

“This is a great thing for Tyler,” said State Rep. Daniel Alders (R-Tyler). “It’s important that our culture, that our society has gotten to a point where we recognize, no, unborn children actually deserve to be defended, they have a right to life just like those of us who are outside of the womb do.”

“Our community is a very giving and generous community and there’s a lot of opportunities to aid women who feel like they need help and support and they’re not sure what to do,” Alders added. “But Planned Parenthood was not one of the ones that I think is serving in that helpful way.”

The Bottom Line:

Though Texas law prevented the Tyler facility from directly killing preborn children through abortion, Planned Parenthood’s Greater Texas Virtual Health Center still refers online visitors to outside organizations where they can locate abortion funds and out-of-state services to kill their preborn children.

It is likely that more of Planned Parenthood’s in-person business will transition to telehealth in the future.

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