Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette Regional Service Health Center Grand Opening Celebration Reaction and Report

Hey everyone, I hope this weekend has been pleasant for you all. I, like millions of other people, don’t have a significant other to spend this “holiday” with, so instead, I attended the grand opening of a state-of-the-art, Planned Parenthood facility. I had a lot of fun and even met and spoke with Cecile Richards (!!) , needless to say, this turned out way better than a box of stale chocolate and flowers.

I posted this at my site www.womenundefined.com as well.

“There is no human circumstance more tragic than the persisting existence of a harmful condition for which a remedy is readily available. Family planning… is possible, practical and necessary…Sanger launched a movement which is obeying a higher law to preserve human life under humane conditions. Margaret Sanger had to commit what was then called a crime in order to enrich humanity, and today we honor her courage and vision; for without them there would have been no beginning”
- Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. PPFA Margaret Sanger Award acceptance speech delivered on his behalf by his wife, Coretta Scott King: “Family Planning- A special and urgent concern”. 

I was honored today to be able to attend the grand opening celebration of the newest, state of the art, Planned Parenthood facility. I was treated to a comprehensive tour, enjoyed great food and musical entertainment, and was able to meet some of the people who inspire me the most. Today’s event was so joyous and inspiring that even the most rowdy bunch of pro-life protesters could not spoil the fun.

The celebration marks the grand opening of the new Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette Regional Health Service Center, located off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in one of Portland, Oregon’s most diverse and culturally rich neighborhoods. The opening is a culmination of years of hard work including community outreach, grassroots fund raising, and construction of a building that will offer reproductive health care and many other services to women and young people who otherwise would not be able to readily obtain such services. The opening and the location reaffirm Planned Parenthood’s continued goal to reach communities previously neglected by safety-net health providers, specifically in regards to reproductive health services.

As I drove up to the clinic, I realized how important this opening is, as I started to see pro-life protesters in small groups a couple blocks away, seeing more and more the closer I got to the service center. Upon arrival, I noticed there were roughly 400-500 protesters of all ages, surrounding the new facility. I had no time to appreciate the modern architectural design of the building , as I was quickly ushered to the check in center by a Portland Police Officer. One high level administrator at the Planned Parenthood Federation said she had never seen anything like the protesters, especially in such a progressive area of the country. She also noted that this reminded her of the protesters and atmosphere outside the grand opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, where there were over 2000 pro-life protesters.

Planned Parenthood event planners and volunteers definitely deserve a huge shout out for arranging to have police escorts. Also, great work by the Portland Police Department for the help, as the signs and the aggression from the protesters lead me to believe things could have gotten out of hand quickly.

I had the opportunity to tour the facility , which has three floors; the top two dedicated to administrative services and the bottom floor- the largest of the 3- the clinic. The main lobby features beautiful artwork and a broad desk where patients or visitors may check in for information. The atmosphere or general aura of the lobby is calm, void of intimidating signs; instead, beautiful artwork either made specifically for the facility or donated to Planned Parenthood, is displayed.

Once inside the clinic, the waiting room is set up in several different areas, depending on the type of service the patient is to receive. The goal of the clinic is to achieve a “flow”, where patients don’t have to spend time waiting around. The tour guide specifically stated that the goal of the new clinic was to minimize the wait time often associated with high volume clinics. Again, the chairs seemed ergonomically efficient and comfortable, there was natural lighting and the artwork and paint scheme creates a calm , relaxing, and non-intimidating setting.

There are four counseling or HOPE (hormonal checkup without pelvic exam) exam rooms, which are designed to cater to patients who come to Planned Parenthood for contraceptive services only. In this room, their blood pressure is taken and they are dispensed a twelve month supply of their product of choice. These rooms are small and intimate. The tour guide stated all that is done here is a blood pressure read and the patient may ask any questions she or he may have in absolute privacy.

There are two full laboratories in the clinic, both large and roomy. There are a total of twelve exam rooms and three surgical procedure rooms where women can obtain a variety of reproductive health related services. This specific clinic does not offer surgical abortion, but Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette does offer surgical abortion through the first trimester at several other locations around the Portland metro area.

When asked why the organization decided at this time, not to offer surgical abortion at this location, the guide stated that in the last several years, abortions in this area have flat lined. Furthermore, 95% of the patients of the Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette obtain services other than surgical abortion and the demand for these services have expanded so rapidly that the clinic was built, in part to address the immense need of these service to women and young people.

In an area where 85% of the patients are at 150% or below the federal poverty line, the new and state of the art Planned Parenthood Regional Service Center is providing much needed services to many women and young people who would otherwise not be able to obtain such services. Often ignored in national debate over health care reform is the cost of prescriptions for contraception. Without prescription coverage, birth control costs can range anywhere from $90.00 per month to $150.00, posing a significant problem especially during a deep recession. Not only does the problem affect young people, it disproportionately affects the poorest in our nation. Thus, the need for this new service center goes without question.

Speaking with some of the board members, I got the sense that a focus on safe, responsible and intelligent health care and reproductive choices are what Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette is aiming for; not just offering surgical abortions and birth control pills.

One member of the Planned Parenthood Federation noted in our conversation that there is an urgent need to broadcast in the media, images of women and men individually taking responsible and knowledgeable precautions to prevent pregnancy and practice safe sex.

” there is no woman or girl on TV”, she said “who is [holding] a birth control pill and sort of saying ‘I am responsible for my reproductive health and having safe sex. I did not get pregnant because of this'”
.

Indeed, there seems to be a current trend in mass media ,which focuses on young women giving birth and either giving the child up for adoption or keeping the child, by way of such shows like MTV’s “Pregnant and 16″. Even though these shows are not damaging in the same way as the pro-life movement or abstinence education, there seems to be the refusal to accept that many women cannot simply carry their pregnancy to term and place the child up for adoption if they chose not to keep the child. This is for a number of reasons, financial constraints the foremost among them. Where are the shows that display women who aren’t pregnant because they have condoms and pills and comprehensive sexual education?

Among the speakers at the event were Oregon Congressmen Earl Blumenauer, David Greenberg, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette President and CEO and Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President. Although each speaker had a unique take on what the opening of this facility meant to them personally, I feel Congressmen Blumenauer’s comments sum up quite succinctly the great need this facility is now addressing.

“there is nothing more important to our vision to livable communities around the world than the full access to the full spectrum of health, particularly reproductive health , which is life or death for many women – this facility is testimony to that effort”

For a moment, I put my recorder down and looked around, absorbed the atmosphere, the crowd, and I realized this truly is an amazing accomplishment. As Doctor King noted in his acceptance speech of the Margaret Sanger Award, what started out as a criminal act in providing reproductive services to the poorest American neighborhoods, is now a multi-state, multi-billion dollar organization servicing 3 million patients country wide in clinics and now seventeen million patients online. It is amazing and inspiring.

Planned Parenthood is reaching millions of women and young people, in part because of the continued grassroots efforts and support which will only contribute to more facilities in places that need them the most.

At the conclusion of the the event, I had a chance to briefly speak with Cecile Richards and David Greenberg, who expressed incredible gratitude when I said I am a “blogger for choice and woman’s reproductive freedom”. In a message not only to me, but all woman’s reproductive rights bloggers, she said,

” We need you, do not stop, we need you”.

Sophia | twitter.com/sophiabiabia | Sophiabiabia@gmail.com