Oakland County commissioners voted 11-6 on Thursday, Aug. 13, to approve a $1.5 million, two-year contract with Planned Parenthood of Michigan, keeping the Ferndale Health Center open through Aug. 31, 2028.

The vote split Rochester-area commissioners. The party-line tally indicates Democrat Brendan Johnson of Rochester Hills voted yes, as the only Democratic dissent came from Kristen Nelson of Waterford. Republican Michael Spisz, who represents Rochester, Rochester Hills and Oakland Township, voted no and unsuccessfully moved to postpone. Republican Michael Gingell, whose district covers parts of Rochester Hills and Oakland Township, was absent.

The decision came after nearly two and a half hours of public comment at the county building in Pontiac, where anti-abortion protesters gathered outside holding enlarged photographs, the Detroit News reported.

"We are here in an emergency because of a targeted effort to dismantle the social safety net that exist here," Commission Chairman David T. Woodward, a Royal Oak Democrat, said before the vote. "It's just fundamentally wrong, and we have to ride out the storm."

Spisz argued the board lacked detailed financials from Planned Parenthood's Ferndale location to make an "educated decision," ClickOnDetroit reported. The motion failed 6-11.

The Ferndale clinic is Oakland County's last remaining Planned Parenthood location after the Livonia and Warren sites closed in late July 2026 due to funding shortfalls. Planned Parenthood of Michigan CEO Paula Thornton Greear told a county committee the center faces a $1 million operating gap after Title X funding ran out in May and the loss of Medicaid reimbursement under the One Big Beautiful Bill.

In the year ending July 2026, the clinic provided more than 7,000 STI tests and 4,000 cycles of birth control to Oakland County residents, according to Thornton Greear's testimony reported by MLive.

State Rep. Josh Schriver of Oxford, whose district overlaps with the Rochester and Oakland Township area, spoke against the contract at the meeting. "It is the largest abortion provider in America. That is not opinion — that's fact, and no amount of carefully-written contract language about cancer screenings or STI tests changes the truth," Schriver said, according to Detroit News. "Our county health providers, they do cancer screenings. They do STI tests."

Nelson, the lone Democratic no vote, said the commission had not seen the actual contract language.

Republican Commissioner Christine Long of Commerce Township requested a full audit of how the $1.5 million is spent. Democratic Commissioner Angela Powell agreed to support the audit.

As we reported Aug. 11, the no-bid contract was framed as emergency funding. Oakland County last funded Planned Parenthood in 2019 with a $500,000 allocation under a similar arrangement.

The contract will reimburse Planned Parenthood for in-person and telehealth services at the Ferndale center, including cancer screenings, wellness exams, STI testing, contraceptives and reproductive health counseling. County Executive Dave Coulter, a Democrat, issued a statement supporting the vote.

Washtenaw County approved a separate $500,000 Planned Parenthood allocation in July 2026, making Oakland County's $1.5 million the largest local government commitment to the organization in Michigan in 2026.