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Limiting Birth Control – Even at Planned Parenthood

Jill

I love Planned Parenthood. I’ve volunteered with them, I’ve worked with their campus outreach groups, and I’ve used their services. I know that they’re a godsend for many women — they certainly have been for me. And while the Planned Parenthood mission is to provide affordable healthcare to all women who need it, local financial constraints don’t always make that possible. The result is that women in higher-income very liberal areas have better healthcare access at their local Planned Parenthood than women in lower-income more conservative areas. And this means that in a lot of places, women aren’t able to afford the basics, even at Planned Parenthood.

via Feministing.

10 thoughts on Limiting Birth Control – Even at Planned Parenthood

  1. I spent a number of years uninsured and on a very tight budget (subsidized by credit cards). I got my pills at Planned Parenthood of Metro Washington DC. They didn’t have a pretty waiting room or anything but, you know, it worked. Then I moved for a few months to a suburb of Atlanta and they told me they didn’t offer services on a sliding fee scale, you had to pay full price even if you were uninsured.

  2. Wonder if they could put up a donation box in the higher-income arias, a sort of “If you can afford it, please help us help those who can’t” type thing.

  3. I was uninsured and unemployed before law school, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington gave me birth control, free, for a year. Which is amazing. But that’s largely because that Planned Parenthood branch is located in a liberal, wealthy area centered around Seattle.

    Kyra, Planned Parenthood pretty much does do that — they solicit donations all the time. Unfortunately, a lot of people just don’t give back.

  4. I have wondered whether I, as someone with full insurance coverage, am: a) benefitting PP because they receive full payment for services rendered to me; or b) taking up a slot on their roster and therefore decreasing the amount of service/provider time/etc available for patients with fewer healthcare options.

    If it’s b), I would certainly want to go somewhere else so as not to be abusing their limited resources, but no one that I have asked at my local chapter seems to know the answer (of course I have only asked medical staff, who are probably not the people who would know). From the comments here, it also sounds like the answer might be different for different clinics. (I haven’t read the link; not sure that nerve.com is safe for my workplace – does it shed any light on this?)

  6. the only dealings i have had with planned parenthood was helping me find an abortion clinic in my area. And they put me on the line with a counseler.

    Around here, young women can go to the county clinics and usually get their pills for free. While in high school, i remember driving many of my girlfriends to the clinics (i had the only car) so they could get on birth control. We did not need parental consent and if that was the case, you just filled out the form to reflect that you were here on your own and with no money. Same way when we got older. You can get pregnancy tests free, pills free and condoms free. I live in florida, and it seems we have access to more clinics like this and there are more abortion clinics in this area than in other parts of the country.

    My old prescription was costing me 40$ a month and for a while that was too expensive, but since i need the pill, i went to the local clinic and they prescribed me a free pill. granted, the list of avalable brands was smaller, but it was free. Since then, my situation has changed and i am able to pay for a pill that suits my needs better.

  7. It’s not just that their funding is being cut, but it’s being diverted to abstince only “education.” I’m looking for the recent article about this happening in Texas, but not finding it…

  8. I have wondered whether I, as someone with full insurance coverage, am: a) benefitting PP because they receive full payment for services rendered to me; or b) taking up a slot on their roster and therefore decreasing the amount of service/provider time/etc available for patients with fewer healthcare options.

    Threemartini:
    That doesn’t really seem to be an either/or question to me. Yes, you are definitely benefitting PP because they get 100% of the dollars for your treatment from your insurance instead of, say, 70% for someone without insurance. B is also true, though, but that is not really a concern, so to speak, to PP–and neither, I think, should it be to you, because the positive effects of A offset (maybe even financially) whatever the “negative” of B is. I’m sure your health center loves it when you and your fellow insured patients show up!

  9. That’s it. Several years ago, I went to the local Planned Parenthood (in a Blue City in a Red State) for Plan B…they told me I could pay whatever I could afford, I didn’t have enough money at the time to give them much. Since I’ve gotten a new job, I’ve been thinking about making a bigger donation, but there’s always been something more pressing and I’ve let it slide.

    I’ll be writing that check tonight.

  10. Jill, as a teenager in Eastern Washington, I was able to get birth control pills for free from Planned Parenthood in Pullman, and Eastern Washington is red red red. So it’s not all bad news.

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