The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
As Planned Parenthoods in the state and across the country navigate federal budget cuts, workers at an Ohio affiliate are fighting for the future of the organization.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio announced on Aug. 4 that staffing reductions were on the horizon, as a result of the cuts to Medicaid in the federal budget bill, and specific cuts that directly impact Planned Parenthood.
The greater Ohio affiliate announced the finalized reduction on Friday, with a total of 20 staff members losing their jobs. Of those 20, 17 were union members under Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio Workers United, the newly formed union under the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 98. Three other employees unaffiliated with the union also lost their jobs.
A press release announcing the staffing reductions said the cuts amount to more than $1.1 million in savings. Staffers were notified of layoffs throughout last week.
“We did everything we could to avoid layoffs,” said Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio president and CEO Erica Wilson-Domer, in a statement with the announcement.
PPGOH Workers United is in their first ever negotiations for a bargaining agreement, having been voluntarily recognized by Planned Parenthood as a union at the beginning of 2025.
Since the announcement of funding cuts, the union created a letter-writing campaign for members. The call for letters acknowledged that budget cuts from the federal side “have been devastating” and that “hard decisions have to be made in light of these cuts,” but asked leaders to commit to a 25% reduction in salary.
“We don’t believe in advocating for salary cuts when it is unnecessary,” the union stated. “However, it has been made expressly clear in our negotiations that cutting a critical number of care-providing staff is management’s only solution to its budget crisis, and we don’t believe in cutting front-facing roles before all other options have been exhausted.”
The call for letters also stated that Planned Parenthood management in the greater Ohio affiliate had confirmed in mid-August that no plans were made to cut pay for the senior leadership team.
“We’ve lost some really important players,” Clarie Randall, an organizer at the OPEIU Local 98, told the Capital Journal.
Those that survived the layoffs continue to believe that their jobs and the clinics they work for are important to the communities they serve, and they plan to fight to keep them open.
“This is my community, I live in this community, I’ve raised my child in this community,” said Sarah Fernandez, who has been a health care assistant in Mansfield for three years. “I’m not planning on leaving, so I really need my community to be a safe and flourishing place.”
Wilson-Domer said overall cuts brought by the Trump administration amount to an annual loss of $10 million for the affiliate. Without a staffing reduction, the greater Ohio branch would “cease to exist, leaving over 50,000 patients without access to birth control, gender affirming care, abortion and a myriad of other essential services,” according to the affiliate leader.
A lawsuit has been filed by the national Planned Parenthood Federation of America to push back against Medicaid cuts, and the judge presiding over the case said Medicaid reimbursement should continue as the lawsuit goes forward.
The potential loss of Medicaid funds and the uncertainty in support for the work she does is “terrifying” for Fernandez, and adding tension in union negotiations and questions about transparency between affiliate leaders and workers has been disappointing.
“It’s terrifying to think that I might not be able to do what I do forever,” Fernandez said. “It feels like it’s much less about patient care and more like ‘we need to stay afloat.’”
Randall said bargaining agreement negotiations had been “amicable” until August, when staff were notified of the layoffs.
“It’s just been really disheartening, and I think morale is down,” Randall said. “It’s going to be harder (to provide care) because with fewer people there’s more jobs to cover, and workers are going to be spread thin.”
Wilson-Domer said the affiliate “has been engaged in nearly a month of good faith” negotiations with the union “regarding the necessary reduction in force and in consideration of various proposals.”
“This is a process that takes time,” Wilson-Domer said in a statement to the Capital Journal. “We understand that this is a stressful process for staff.”
She said the union has been informed that “overall director level and above compensation” has been cut by about $2 million.
“The impacts of a total $10 million funding loss unfortunately cannot be solved entirely through cutting executive compensation,” Wilson-Domer said.
The most recent tax filing for the non-profit (called a 990) is from 2023, in which Iris Harvey was still president and CEO, at an annual salary of $318,703. Wilson-Domer was chief strategy and transformation officer at the time, making $206,616 annually. Chief Medical Officer Adarsh Krishen was reported as making $177,022 per year and Chief External Affairs Officer Abigail Smardon was listed at an annual salary of $167,578.
Wilson-Domer reiterated that even with the staffing cuts, the organization “will continue to offer all of the services it currently does at our health centers.”
“This reduction does not include any health center closures,” she told the Capital Journal. “As long as our doors are open, PPGOH remains committed to providing high-quality, affordable and timely health care to all our patients.”
In Mansfield, Fernandez said as they await decisions about Medicaid funding and the true impact of local layoffs, struggles have to be expected, even as workers strive to keep providing the consistent service for those seeking birth control, STI screenings and gender affirming care, among other things.
“I think it’s really going to have to be a push of community members coming together and saying we need this clinic to stay open,” Fernandez said.
