LONG ISLAND CITY — Planned Parenthood is expected to open a new center in Court Square in mid-June — its first full service clinic in the borough.
The new 14,000-square-foot facility at 21-41 45th Rd. — which will offer a range of sexual and reproductive health services to residents, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay — is expanding to Queens to meet increasing demand, officials said.
"We are expanding access to our services at a time when reproductive rights are under siege," said Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City.
The opening of the new center — the fifth in the five boroughs — "is an affirmation of New York City as a national leader of women’s rights and health," she said.
Planned Parenthood already has a clinic in every borough, and it briefly operated a location in Rockaway several decades ago.
Since 2008, the number of patient visits to Planned Parenthood's New York City clinics has increased by 26 percent, the organization said. More than 5,000 of its patients live in Queens and previously had to travel to the other boroughs for care.
The new two-story site expects to treat more than 17,000 patients each year, and will provide services like birth control, gynecological care, pregnancy tests, testing for sexually transmitted infections and abortion services, officials said.
"We take down barriers for quality health care," said Diane L. Max, the board chair for Planned Parenthood of NYC, after whom the new center is named. "Most of all, Planned Parenthood is a place you can trust."
The new facility will also provide on-site health insurance enrollment though the state's Health Marketplace, and includes an "education center" which will offer reproductive health and sex education.
The center will employ about 30 staffers who speak a number of languages, and will also use interpretation services, according to officials.
A ribbon-cutting for the new clinic took place on Monday.
"This center will make Queens and the city better and safer and more hopeful," City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said.
