Planned Parenthood provides testing, counseling and information
In 1916 Margaret Sanger, her sister Ethel Byrne, both nurses, and Fania Mindel, opened the first birth control clinic in America in Brooklyn, N.Y.
They provided contraceptive advice to desperately poor immigrants. Byrne, Mindel and Sanger were arrested and indicted under New York State’s 1873 “Comstock Law,” which forbids the dissemination of birth control information, according to www.plannedparenthood.org.
Sanger started the very first Planned Parenthood clinic, and now the organization spreads throughout the world.
Annie Munk, clinical assistant at the Logan Planned Parenthood clinic, said many clinics get picketed nationwide, but Logan’s has not.
“We have never had any problems or cause for concern, which we are grateful for,” Munk said.
Munk said the clinic in Logan has been here for about 12 years and is part of the worldwide, non-profit organization known as Planned Parenthood.
The Logan clinic has three clinical assistants and two nurse practitioners. It provides medical assistance, birth control advice and products, health exams, pap smears, screening for sexually transmitted diseases and HIV testing.
Munk said, “We offer HIV testing by blood or oral tests, in which samples are taken from the saliva and are just as accurate as blood tests are.”
People are relieved about the payments; the clinic is funded by the government, so it can offer lower prices. Many patients are students, and it is a relief to them that there is somewhere they can go to get quality health care at a lower price, Munk said.
Most of what patrons pay is in donations, and the services are subsidized; it is based on the patient’s income.
“Most patients are low-income or have no insurance. Being government funded makes it easier for us to slide down costs to make the services more affordable,” Munk said.
The clinic also offers counseling for vasectomies, abortions and the morning-after pills.
Munk said the morning-after pill is a pill you can take within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.
“It works the same way as birth control pills, which force a woman’s body to have a period,” she said. “If you are pregnant before you take the morning-after pill, you will still be pregnant.”
The morning-after pill is a prescription, and patrons are encouraged to practice safe sex or abstain, she said.
“It is not an abortion pill,” Munk said. “Rapes are often referred to us for the morning-after pill and counseling.”
The clinic also focuses on community education. She said a lecturer goes to high schools and middle schools and speaks about safe sex. There is also a resource library, which has informative books and movies on subjects such as puberty, sex and abortion.
The majority of patients come in for pregnancy tests, yearly exams and the morning-after pill.
“[Planned Parenthood] helps people all the time. It makes things easier for patients that can’t afford the regular cost of a physician,” Munk said.
People are uneducated about who or what Planned Parenthood really is. Cache Valley is a very conservative society, and places like that usually misunderstand the program, she said.
According to plannedparenthood.org the mission statement of the organization outlines what exactly Planned Parenthood is.
“Planned Parenthood believes in the fundamental right of each individual, throughout the world, to manage his or her fertility, regardless of the individual’s income, marital status, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin or residence.
“[We will] provide comprehensive reproductive health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual; advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such services; provide educational programs which enhance understanding of individual and societal implications of human sexuality and promote research and the advancement of technology in reproductive health care and encourage understanding of their inherent bioethical, behavioral, and social implications.”
Munk said Planned Parenthood is really important for health care.
“Our services are definitely needed. There seems to be a misconception about what Planned Parenthood is, and most of Cache Valley doesn’t really care. Some seem to think we are a scary backyard abortion clinic, but we are trying to help people stay healthy,” Munk said.
–kassrobison@cc.usu.edu