Planned Parenthood in the Modern Age
Four people sit in the Moreland Avenue Planned Parenthood, evenly dispersed, scrolling on their phones with straight faces. It is quiet and clean. Every couple of minutes someone new comes in looking for a walk in test or examination. The nurses at the front desk do not seem impatient as they sternly turn the walk ins away, advising they schedule an appointment online. An 11 a.m. appointment is finally called back at noon. The nurse who appears is warm to the tired looking patient who disappears into the back with her.
Many Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are not filled with unpleasant people, although they are often guarded by threatening protestors and facilitate the use of an intercom for entrance. Though many visitors are likely coming to the clinic for STI treatment or testing, the stigma suggests the visit is for an abortion, though only four percent of the 2017–2018 services were abortion related.
There is bias against reproductive health in the current political climate, from right-biased media outlets referring to the clinics as “abortion providers” to growing support for the most pro-life presidency in U.S. history. Many pregnant, worried, or sick people looking to address their sexual health will experience some sort of abortion related protest on their way into the clinic. Suggesting that many who advocate against Planned Parenthood simply do not understand the full range of its services.
If the air of dismay inside of the Atlanta Planned Parenthood or the rain on the street outside did not give away the recent shift for clinics nationwide, the patients might have. Uninsured Planned Parenthood patient Joshua Skog has noticed a recent change in appointments, “My October visit this year was about $150 more than previous recent times. I was also not given a wellness check like I often can get.” Skog, who maintains three jobs yet struggles with healthcare, admits that he “makes too much for free clinics but not enough for useful insurance policies.”
He often turns to Planned Parenthood for what services they can offer like STI testing, wellness check-ups and cancer screenings.
The changes in service, wait times and cost of care can be attributed to Planned Parenthood’s recent withdrawal from Title X funding. As just one of the many steps back for reproductive rights in 2019, the Trump Administration placed a “gag order” on Title X regulations, restricting specifically the language care providers may use if they are actively being funded. Darkly, this revocation of language that includes reference to abortion has a profound effect on the government’s regulation of doctor-patient relationship.
Emily Nestler, an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights told NPR, “Today is the tipping point, I think, and you’re going to really see the unwinding of a program that has provided extraordinary care and been a huge success for decades.”
Although a Guttmacher Institute report claims some staggering facts regarding the actual distribution of funding, which primarily serves young patients below the poverty line, many pro-life advocates fear federal funding going towards abortive services and sexual health education.
In a recent disagreement over the Green Bay Packer’s donation to a Latinx based sexual education and reproductive health program through Planned Parenthood, multiple actual adults with actual roles of responsibility in their jobs were quoted remarking, “People don’t necessarily have to mention the word ‘abortion’ to mean abortion. Especially with Planned Parenthood, it’s included with ‘reproductive health’ wording and those kinds of things;” and that Planned Parenthood may use the program to “now target more effectively for abortion, their numero uno moneymaker for putting mas dinero into their bank account.”
The program is titled Cuidándonos Creceremos más Sanos, which means, Taking Care of Ourselves We Will Grow Healthier.
Yet Planned Parenthood has strengthened focus for 2020, recently launching an advocacy and investment campaign for this year’s election. The primary focus is on Roe v. Wade, which has taken the center of the Republican target, but in the Moreland Avenue Planned Parenthood there is something clearer. Restricting access to sexual and reproductive health rights, no matter the religious or political affiliation is a disservice to the human condition.
Planned Parenthood on Moreland Avenue provides cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, Men’s and Women’s health services, pregnancy tests and counseling, contraceptive care, LGBTQ+ services, and medical abortion services.
