Planned Parenthood Launches Essential and Innovative Resource For Latino Community

Mobile Website in Spanish Provides Medical Facts and Health Center Locator For Demographic Group Most Likely to Use Cell Phone to Look for Health Information

With the goal of expanding access to reproductive health information, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) announces the launch of its Spanish-language mobile website, Planned Parenthood en Español Móvil (m.plannedparenthood.org/esp), ensuring that the facts on birth control, sexually transmitted infections, parent/teen-talks about sex and finding the nearest health center, among many other topics, are available by mobile phone in Spanish.

The launch comes on the heels of a recent Pew Research Center study that found that Latino cell phone users are significantly more likely than other groups to use their cell phone to look for health information: 25 percent of Latinos do so, compared with 15 percent of non-Latino whites. 

“Latinos are mobile, and we are meeting them where they are with vital health information and access to our hundreds of health centers across the country,” said PPFA Director of Latino Engagement Destiny Lopez. “Planned Parenthood is one of the leading reproductive health providers and advocates for Latinos in the U.S., and Móvil will allow us to reach even more members of our community with comprehensive sexual health information and culturally respectful care.”

The resource aims to meet a critical need in the Latino community, which faces barriers in accessing basic health care services such as women’s wellness exams. Latinas, for example, have lower screening rates for both mammography and Pap tests than non-Latina white and black women.

The rollout of Planned Parenthood en Español Móvil builds on the launch of Planned Parenthood’s mobile website in September. Consistent with the Pew study, as of September about 16 percent of www.plannedparenthood.org traffic (approximately two million visits per month) comes from mobile devices such as iPhones, BlackBerries, Droids and non-smart phones — a threefold increase in mobile visitors since September 2009.

All in all, Planned Parenthood Online receives 24 million visits per year to get information about family planning services, women’s and men’s sexual health, and relationships, as well as to find the nearest Planned Parenthood health center.

Planned Parenthood is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care provider and advocate. We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved. Planned Parenthood affiliates operate more than 825 health centers nationwide, providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women, men, and teenagers each year. We also work with allies worldwide to ensure that all women and men have the right and the means to meet their sexual and reproductive health care needs.