Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin is opening a new clinic in Milwaukee that will provide abortion services, the first such center the group has opened in the state in more than a decade.

The move comes despite state Republican leaders' efforts to limit access to the procedure.

The expansive, newly built center was paid for by donors, said Tanya Atkinson, the group's president and CEO.

"For us, what we're saying is, 'We're here for you, and we're going to be here for you. We're not going anywhere,' " Atkinson said. "And at the same time, we're going to enhance the care that we provide."

When the new center, located at 435 S. Water St., opens next week, Planned Parenthood will stop treating patients at its Jackson St. location in the Third Ward. That means Planned Parenthood will still have two centers that provide abortions in the state — one in Milwaukee and one in Madison. The group plans to continue using its Jackson Street building as administrative offices.

Planned Parenthood's other 19 centers around Wisconsin will continue to provide family planning and other services.

Planned Parenthood served 59,762 patients in 2016 and, that same year, provided 3,889 abortions, the group said. The new center is expected to allow Planned Parenthood to serve more patients and reduce wait times, the group said.

The center is sure to draw the ire of abortion opponents and GOP lawmakers, who have passed a flurry of laws targeting Planned Parenthood and access to abortion in recent years.

"It's clear that Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin just does not need taxpayer funds," Chelsea Duffy, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin Right to Life, said of the new center. "We think this just further signals that they no longer need taxpayer funds."

The Water St. center is the first clinic Planned Parenthood has built in Wisconsin since its facility on the east side of Madison opened in 2004. The project's $8 million price tag includes the cost of purchasing the land, doing remediation at the site and building the facility.

"It is going to allow Planned Parenthood to really improve access to care for the women of Wisconsin, and really give them a health center that they truly deserve," said Kathy King, the group's medical director. "This is going to be a modern, state-of-the-art facility that has been designed with all the best practices in mind."

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, said the group provides crucial services, especially for African-American and low-income women.

"It is really important to have a place for not only health care, but quite frankly, safe, legal abortions," Moore said. "I'm 66, so I'm old enough to have heard the stories of people who lost their lives attempting to control their reproduction."

Nicole Safar, director of government relations for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, said she hopes the clinic will help women in Milwaukee and around the state have better access to abortion services, despite laws from Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature that limit access to the procedure.

"We have really seen intentional, targeted attacks on a woman's ability to get an abortion in our state, and Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin really wanted to show our commitment to enhancing and increasing abortion access," Safar said.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson could not be reached for comment Friday.

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Women often travel for hours to get to the group's two centers that provide abortions in Madison and Milwaukee, Safar said. Another group has an abortion clinic in Milwaukee, so there are currently three centers that provide abortions in the state.

"Access in the vast majority of the state is nonexistent," said Doug Laube, a Planned Parenthood provider who previously served as president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Citing last year's closing of the group's Fox Valley abortion clinic, Laube said limited access in Wisconsin frequently results in patients facing long drives, long waiting lists, high travel and lodging costs.

The Water St. center will include more consultation and examination rooms, and an expanded waiting room, as well as areas for family and children. While there, patients will also be able to get family planning services and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases.

The center may expand to other services, like vasectomies, sterilization and cancer prevention services, the group said.

The center was designed so patients will no longer walk directly past protesters, King said.

"Trying to create as positive and supportive of an environment as possible is extraordinarily important to us," she said.