Planned Parenthood in Durango has launched an outreach program that aims to educate the public about all the services the sexual and reproductive health care center offers, and to help dispel misconceptions amid a contentious political atmosphere.
“That’s a huge part of this program,” said Molly Swank, field-organizing director for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. “And that’s to educate people who don’t fully understand what we do in our health centers.”
Planned Parenthood’s “Health Center Advocacy Program” got underway in Durango in October, joining efforts in Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fort Collins and Salida.
While relatively new to Colorado, the HCAP campaign has been effective in other parts of the country where communities don’t understand or know all the health care services the center provides, Swank said.
The program puts volunteers through extensive training that will provide them with the skills to educate anyone who visits a Planned Parenthood about the center’s many services. Volunteers work about two to three hours a week.
Swank said once the program becomes more established in Durango, volunteer activists will engage in community focused outreach, such as going door to door, to reach a segment of the population that would otherwise not know the full extent of services at Planned Parenthood.
“It’s really important that we give a voice to our health center staff and visitors, and the community directly, around our health centers,” Swank said. “Because we are, first and foremost, a health care provider.”
The educational outreach program launches at a time in Colorado when Planned Parenthood is under increasing scrutiny on a national political level from those who oppose abortion rights.
Yet, advocates of Planned Parenthood have desperately tried to relay to the general public that abortions are only a part of services provided and that underserved and/or poor populations heavily rely on the center.
Planned Parenthood has long pointed to a statistic that shows abortions only account for 3 percent of its approximately 10.6 million annual services to 2.7 million clients nationwide, according to a 2013-14 annual report.
Other services include testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (42 percent), contraception services (34 percent), other women’s health services (11 percent) and cancer screening and prevention (9 percent).
For context, out of the 10.6 million services to people who visited Planned Parenthood for some form of sexual or reproductive health care, about 328,000 account for abortions.
Yet, recent political rhetoric puts all of the center’s services at risk. Planned Parenthood receives about $500 million a year in government funding, about 40 percent of the health center’s total budget.
President-elect Donald Trump has called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, though his position has been difficult to pinpoint.
In 1999, Trump told The Associated Press he believes an abortion “is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors.” In 2011, Trump announced he was pro-life after years of being pro-choice. In 2015, Trump said he believes abortions should be banned with exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother. And during the 2016 election cycle, it was unclear if Trump intends to defund Planned Parenthood outright or defund the center only if it continues to offer abortions.
“Millions and millions of women – cervical cancer, breast cancer – are helped by Planned Parenthood,” Trump said at the Feb. 25 Republican primary debate. “So you can say whatever you want, but they have millions of women going through Planned Parenthood that are helped greatly ... And I wouldn’t fund it. I would defund it because of the abortion factor.”
Swank hopes that through educating the general public, local grass-roots support will sway the conversation and influence any impending legislation that would either expand or restrict access to sexual or reproduction health services.
The Durango Herald reached out to U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, and recently elected state Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango – none were immediately available for comment.
Swank also said HCAP will undertake an effort to educate its staff on what legislation could be coming and what it would mean directly for health care providers on a day-to-day basis.
“A lot of our folks don’t necessarily understand the impacts of bills that could restrict access,” Swank said. “So we need to make sure everyone understands how certain legislation can impact them directly, and how important it is to engage the community in advocacy work.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
