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Planned Parenthood is set to open a reproductive health clinic in Juneau by the end of the summer.

The clinic will offer women's health services such as first-trimester abortions, breast and pelvic exams, cancer-screening Pap smears and testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

It will be the first time abortions will be available in Juneau for at least 15 years, according to LaRae Jones, secretary of the Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition.

The Washington state Department of Health estimates that more than 200 women fly to the Seattle area each year from Southeast Alaska for abortion services, according to Planned Parenthood of Alaska CEO Clover Simon. Others travel to Anchorage.

"It is very expensive and prohibitive in many cases for people to do that," Jones said.

The clinic will accept insurance and offer a sliding-fee scale for clients who earn up to 200 percent of the federal income poverty level.

No medical providers in Juneau currently offer lower-cost reproductive health services, Simon said. The scale allows low-cost birth control for women who qualify.

Jones has helped the Juneau coalition raise $150,000 toward the $1.2 million cost of the clinic. She said education and family planning are important for the community.

"I would like to prevent abortions," she said. "If we had more education, condoms easily available, perhaps we might prevent the need for one. I love children but they need to be wanted."

John Monagle, board member of the Juneau-based Alaskans for Life, said the anti-abortion group knew Planned Parenthood was working to open a clinic here, and members hoped the community wouldn't support it.

He said Alaskans for Life would picket and protest the clinic.

"I hope by the end of the summer we can bring it up fresher and that (the community) will give it a second thought," Monagle said.

Planned Parenthood of Alaska operates clinics in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Soldotna and Sitka. It does not offer abortion services in Southeast Alaska.

The Juneau clinic, to be located near the Bartlett Regional Hospital campus, will offer a variety of reproductive health services to women in the region, including post-menopausal care.

"Prevention is the key to good health and reproductive health is no exception," Simon said. "Our clinic plans to provide comprehensive services, including education."

About 13 percent of pregnancies in Alaska, or 1,900 pregnancies, ended in abortion in 2005, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit that tracks abortion data. The national average was about 19 percent.

The institute attributed a decline in the number of abortions to more effective use of contraceptives, lower levels of unintended pregnancy and greater difficulty in obtaining abortions in some places.