The Muskegon County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to end their lease agreement with Planned Parenthood of Michigan, evicting them from the county's health department building at 209 E. Apple Ave.
The board of commissioners meeting was held at the Louis McMurray Transit Center in Muskegon Heights, and it was packed with supporters on both sides.
The meeting, which was scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. had a line of people out the door waiting to get in. Public comment last over five hours before the commissioners voted on the proposal.
While much of the debate at the meeting was centered on pro-life and pro-choice arguments, the Planned Parenthood center in Muskegon does not offer abortions.
The board voted 6-2 to end the lease agreement with Planned Parenthood.
Supporters of the decision said the county needs the space in that building.
The board voted to give Planned Parenthood 90 days before they will have to leave the county building. Commissioners said the county needs the space in order to expand services for Muskegon County residents who have sexually transmitted diseases and HIV.
"The health department once Planned Parenthood moves out will have plenty of space to do their operations," said Gary Foster a county commissioner. "[They] need that space to better service the residents and that's the whole point of this whole thing."
Planned Parenthood of Michigan says the eviction is a political move that will ultimately negatively affect Muskegon County residents.
"There's no question it was political," said Jim Norton with Planned Parenthood. "We've got a council member that ran on a platform that he wanted to close Planned Parenthood. Period. Full stop. That's what he ran on. Now we're going to ask if this is political?"
Foster denies that the board made the decision on a political basis, saying they took a motion from their health director and now they're moving forward with it.
Planned Parenthood said they are the only Title X provider in the county, and there are no other centers available to provide free or low cost reproductive health care.
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