LONGVIEW, Wash. - Planned Parenthood is closing its Longview clinic next month because of federal Medicaid cuts.

The closure of the small clinic, which is open each Thursday, comes as low-income patients are having difficulty finding reproductive care and Cowlitz County has growing rates of sexually transmitted diseases, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Jennifer Allen said.

The clinic provides STD testing and treatment, condoms, menopause treatment and gynecological exams. It has operated in the county Health Department's Longview headquarters for the past three years.

Allen said Friday that the closure was necessary after federal officials cut family planning services for 7,800 people in the "Take Charge" program. The clinic's last day will be March 8.

"We think it's awful," Allen told The Daily News of Longview. "This is going to have a significant negative impact on folks in Cowlitz County. The folks who have been coming to us for services are not necessarily going to have another place to turn."

The clinic, which is staffed by one nurse practitioner and two office aides, is the first Planned Parenthood facility in Washington to close because of the cuts, Allen said. The organization also shut down a youth education program in Everett, she said, and more clinics may follow.

Lesley Bombardier, interim director of the county's health department, said patients will have to turn to a clinic operated by the county as well as the nonprofit Family Health Center, which has three southwest Washington offices. Patients may also have to travel to Centralia or Vancouver for family planning services, she said.

In the long-run, she said, "People will go without."

Family Health Center Executive Director Dian Cooper said its clinics have struggled with the Medicaid cuts, but will "do what we can to expand our services and meet additional demand."

County Commissioner Axel Swanson said officials may try to find ways to provide alternative services.

"We're struggling with STDs right now. That's just a flat-out fact," Swanson said. "It leaves a big question mark in my mind why they would choose to leave Cowlitz County."

Cowlitz County had 222 gonorrhea cases last year, giving it the highest rate in the state per 100,000 people.

Although Planned Parenthood does not provide abortions in Cowlitz County, anti-abortion protesters said the county's renting space to the organization amounted to an endorsement of a pro-abortion organization.

Jerry Ross, a retired Kalama businessman and anti-abortion activist who has been picketing the Longview clinic, let out a cheer when he heard the clinic was closing Friday.

"I am very happy," he said. "I'm going to have a beer tonight."

Allen said the protesters had nothing to do with the decision to close the clinic.