Planned Parenthood looks to reopen Knoxville location two years after fire

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Planned Parenthood is looking to reopen its Knoxville clinic more than two and half years after it was destroyed in a 2021 arson.

On New Year’s Eve in 2021, the N. Cherry St. building was set on fire, and hasn’t been open since. The fire made Planned Parenthood’s Asheville, NC location the closest to Knoxville.

In 2021, Liana Hinchey was a patient at Planned Parenthood in Knoxville.

“When I didn’t have insurance, that ended up being cheaper than going to the health department. So I ended up, for all of my dysplasia cancer screenings, I went. And then for birth control, I have PCOS,” Hinchey said.

She had an upcoming appointment scheduled when the arson occurred, causing her to restart her search for affordable services.

“The health department was about three times as much as it was for me to go to Planned Parenthood for the same services, and especially with no insurance. It comes down to Planned Parenthood actually looks at your income, they’ll give you income based care,” she said.

Now, Planned Parenthood Tennessee and North Mississippi CEO Ashley Coffield expects they’ll start seeing patients at the Knoxville location again in August.

“We can’t wait to see our patients. I think that we’ll all be very emotional when that first patient walks through the door in the new health center,” Coffield said.

They also plan to hold a ribbon-cutting and official opening in September. However, delays are possible if the building faces construction set backs.

Under Tennessee’s abortion ban, which has limited exceptions, the new Knoxville clinic will not perform any abortions. However, will resume its other healthcare services.

“Cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, the HPV vaccine, we do hypertension management, we provide gender affirming care, STI testing and treatment, that includes HIV testing and counseling, we do pregnancy testing, and ultrasound services for pregnancy dating, and then we provide patients with options counseling and abortion navigation,” Coffield listed.

She said at the time of the arson, the clinic had about 4000 patients.

“We said from the very beginning of this process, that we are not going anywhere, that the Knoxville community wants us there and we want to be there and we will come back, and we’ve come back in a remarkably short period of time given what we had to deal with and we are absolutely thrilled,” she said.

In May 2023, Planned Parenthood brought a mobile health unit to Knoxville to offer in-person care for birth control, testing, and vaccines.

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