President's Update

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

Usually at this time of year, I write about the political challenges facing Planned Parenthood.  This letter is a little different.

For one thing, as you read this, you know how the election turned out - something I don’t know as I write.  (Or maybe I should say, “Most likely you know ….”)  You may also know a little more than I do today about how the government’s efforts to stabilize the economy are working. 

I hope that on both counts the news is good – that the outcome of the election means we don’t need to worry quite so much about the Supreme Court.  And that the economy is doing better. 

But, I suspect the economy is still a concern.  A weak economy always impacts our patients.  This time is no different.   We are facing a double whammy.  More and more women and families need our help.  And, without a doubt, our fundraising will be especially challenging this year. 

Because you are a Planned Parenthood supporter, you know that the need for our services increases when people are out of work.  You know that when times are tough, people must decide whether to pay for contraception or put food on the table.  It’s during times like these that our affordable health care services become even more important.

I know that many of you will dig a little deeper and do all you can to help us – and our patients - weather this difficult time.  Whether you make an outright gift, become a monthly sustainer, make a pledge, or give a gift of stock (especially appreciated stock), your help will make a tremendous difference.  So, in advance, let me thank you.

I just got back from a Planned Parenthood meeting in Houston.  Of course, the airport televisions were full of stories about the election, the stock market, the mortgage crisis, the debates. 

We talked about all of that in Houston too.  However, our real focus was on the business challenges facing our organizations.  These are issues I think about often.  Sitting in a meeting thinking about them for two days was different. It really brought home to me the crisis that our entire health care system is facing.

We’ve all heard the facts and figures:

·        We spend almost twice as much as any other country on health care - $2 trillion a year.  Yet millions of people cannot access the health care services they need. 

·        46 million Americans are not covered by any health insurance, including Medicaid. 

·        One-fifth of Americans spend more than 10% of their after tax income on health care.

But for me the facts and figures never really hit home until I heard this story: 

In Houston, one of the speakers was a woman who had recently been diagnosed with cancer.  “If I didn’t have health insurance, there is no way I would have gone to the doctor as early as I did.  I would have waited to see if my symptoms cleared up.”  Instead, without a second thought, she made an appointment with her doctor and her cancer was caught early.  How many others delay and hope things will clear up – simply because they cannot afford to go to the doctor?  How many people do not have the “luxury” of an early diagnosis?

Soon, though, she was surprised to find out that her insurance was not all that she thought.  It’s true, the vast majority of her bills were covered. But, because of her deductible and co-insurance, she was hit with $3000 in medical bills.

Then her husband needed a colonoscopy.  His deductible was also $1000.  So, even with “good” health insurance, they had $4000 in medical bills – not including the cost of the medication she takes for her cancer and he takes for his high blood pressure.  Her policy is up for renewal this fall.  With her medical history, she worries what the increased cost of her coverage will be.  And, in January, the deductible and co-insurance start all over again.

In fact, most outpatient services fall below the patient’s health plan deductible.  That means that even people with health insurance are effectively uninsured. 

Nearly one-third of Americans - 97 million people – are completely uninsured or the insurance they have does not cover most primary care.  These are the people that Planned Parenthood helps every day. 

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There are signs that we will finally begin to reform the system.  At the beginning of 2008, thirty-nine states had already enacted legislation to reform parts of their health care systems, including three that enacted comprehensive reform.  More than half of the states expanded coverage for children and/or adults; and many states moved to make private insurance more affordable. 

In North Carolina these changes mean that about 50,000 children and adults will be able to access more affordable health coverage.  When you consider that more than 1.3 million North Carolinians are uninsured – including as many as 240,000 children – this is just a drop in the bucket.

Although the answer to this crisis is not at all clear, it may be worthwhile for policy makers to consider the values of Planned Parenthood and our supporters. 

• We believe that health care should be affordable.  That’s why we keep our fees as low as possible.  A typical year of care at PPCNC for an adult patient – including the visit charge and a year of contraception – is about half of what a woman would pay in the private sector; teens receive an additional 50% discount.  And now, thanks to an extraordinary gift to national Planned Parenthood, we can give financial assistance to many more women who need help paying for abortion services – more than 1400 women since January.

• We believe that health care should be accessible.  That’s why patients can be seen at our health centers without an appointment – at the time that is best for them.  Today the 4000 people who call our health centers every month never get a busy signal, thanks to our partnership with the American Social Health Association and their state-of-the-art equipment.  And by this time next year, our Fayetteville health center will be open – increasing access to affordable, high quality reproductive health services for thousands of women, men, and teens throughout the Sandhills area. 

• We believe that health care should be of the highest quality.  That’s why we are so proud to be at the cutting edge of reproductive health care, offering the newest methods of birth control - methods like Essure, a safe, effective non-surgical form of sterilization for women.  And now we are training residents from the UNC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology – including training them to provide compassionate, safe abortions in an outpatient environment. 

• We believe that health care should be culturally appropriate.  That’s why we have Spanish-speaking staff and materials in our health centers and our call center.  In fact, with advance notice, we can provide translators for virtually any language. We are now partnering with the Episcopal Farm Workers’ Ministry, based in Sampson County, to expand our Latino peer education programs into new parts of our service area. And we are proud that today 40% of our board and 50% of our staff are people of color, reflecting the diversity of the communities we serve. 

Our values are reflected in the vital work we do every day.  Every day, we help women, men, and young people take control of their health by making responsible decisions about whether to be sexually active, how to best protect themselves from disease and unintended pregnancy, and whether and when to become parents – regardless of their economic circumstance. 

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Planned Parenthood has a special role to play as we reform our health care system.  We are the nation’s most trusted provider of reproductive health care.  One in four American women has visited a Planned Parenthood health center.  We are an integral part of America’s health care safety net.  We are the nation’s largest network of professional sex educators, providing education programs to more than 1.2 million people every year.

On behalf of the thousands of women, men, young people, and families who depend on Planned Parenthood – thank you for your support!

Best wishes,

Janet Colm

President & CEO

P.S.  So many people depend on us to be here to help them meet day-to-day needs – and at times of personal crisis.  I hope you will consider a special gift today to help us meet the economic challenges we face and provide services to the people who need us now more than ever.

If you would like to talk with us about the options for making a gift to PPCNC, please call Joyce Mitchell-Antoine, our Chief Development Officer, at 919-929-5402, ext. 234.

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

It started like so many mornings – I was drinking my coffee and my husband looked up from his newspaper, a look of disbelief on his face.  “These people are crazy.”  It wasn’t Iraq or global warming or the economy this time. 

It was the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that gave married people the right to use contraception.  To mark the day, anti-choice activists were picketing outside women’s health centers.  Not to protest abortion, to protest contraception. 

As their website (http://www.thepillkills.com/) says:

Pill Kills Day began Saturday, June 7, in front of the Napa, California, Planned Parenthood office at 11 AM. About two dozen prayerful witnesses testified to the facts of death about the pill. For one hour the prayers were offered for the many uninformed patrons who come asking the staff of Planned Parenthood to provide chemicals, hormones, and sex-education as an answer to their problems with the natural consequences of abuse of sex. Attractive literature detailed the devastating effects of the pill, the shot, and the IUD on women who will be chemically altered mothers even though they don't "Plan" to be and don't even know it. They will be mothers of dead babies. The hormones, chemicals and sharp I.U. devises will starve and kill in the secret warmth of their sterilized wombs.

Did you notice?  They weren’t just protesting contraception, they were protesting sex education!  Not sex education in the schools.  Sex education in a Planned Parenthood health center!

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Despite challenges (surely there is a better way to describe these people!) like this, Planned Parenthood continues to move forward in our efforts to broaden access to reproductive health care. 

In May we entered into an exciting partnership with the American Social Health Association (ASHA).  ASHA is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public to understand, prevent, and de-stigmatize sexually transmitted

infections.  They operate a number of call centers.  For many years they operated the national HIV/AIDS hotline, which was one of the largest hotline services in the world at the time.

The customer service center - our call center - is now located at ASHA.  The Planned Parenthood call center grew out of the Dial EC emergency contraception hotline we operated for many years.  We answer questions, make appointments, and provide referrals to callers from around the state. 

The partnership with ASHA means that we have access to state-of-the-art technology and expert assistance in training and monitoring our staff.  As a result, callers to PPCNC no longer ever get a busy signal. 

With this new technology, we also have access to excellent reporting.  We had no idea how many people were calling us for help – 4000 calls a month!  We are quickly hiring and training more staff so that these calls can all be answered promptly and professionally.  Our goal is to have the call center fully staffed by late August so that no caller has to be on hold for more than a few minutes.  In the meantime, if you call one of our health centers for an appointment (866-942-7762) please be patient – we will get to your call as quickly as possible.

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July is the beginning of a new fiscal year for PPCNC.  This year we also mark the beginning of a new strategic plan.  Work on the plan started a year ago with a board retreat.  The foundation of our plan is four bold vision statements that describe where we want to be in five years:

*   North Carolina is the pro-choice beacon of the South, ensuring access and the right to make informed choices about reproductive freedom, sex education, and reproductive health care. 

*    PPCNC is the number-one resource for honest, up-to-date, factual information on reproductive and sexual health.

*    PPCNC is an inclusive organization that respectfully serves diverse communities and responds to changing needs.

*    PPCNC has a flexible and diversified business strategy to ensure financial health and enable the achievement of our vision.

With your help, I know we will look back in five years, proud of how far we’ve come in making those visions a reality.  In the meantime, watch your mail for our annual report where we’ll sum up how well we met the visions of our last strategic plan. 

Best wishes,
Janet Colm
President and CEO

P.S.  Here’s a note from one of our first vasectomy patients:  “To the doctor:  You probably don’t get many of these, but I wanted to let you know I really appreciate all that you did.  Your time, patience, sensitivity and thoroughness in the great job you did.  Once again, thanks.”  Your support means so much to our work.  Thank you for your help.

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May 2008

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

I’ve given many of you tours of our Chapel Hill health center since we built it ten years ago and started providing abortion services.  I love showing off this facility, introducing people to our wonderful staff, and talking about all the services we provide.

At the end of the tour, we usually end up in the recovery room – where women rest for an hour or so after their abortion procedure so we can make sure everything is OK before they go home.  Sometimes while they rest, they write in special journals that we have there.   Those journals are very powerful – that is why I like to end a tour there.  It gives people a glimpse of the real women we help and the real lives we touch.

Many of you share your personal story with me as we look over these journals.  We talk about the mixed feelings our patients – and we – have about pregnancy, parenting, and abortion. 

And I share my conviction that abortion can be a life changing event – a maturing experience.  For many young women it is their first experience successfully coping with a major personal crisis – the first time they have made a decision that cannot be changed.
Of course, an event this significant can bring up many feelings.  Research indicates that emotional problems resulting from abortion are rare and that for most women the response is relief.  And that is borne out by what women say to us and what they write in our journals.  They write: 
• I feel like I got my life back.
• This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but I know it was right for me.
• Thanks for giving me a second chance.  I’ll never forget this.
• I know I made the right decision for my family.

This is what we tell our patients:  abortion is a common life event similar to having a baby, getting a divorce, getting married, or losing a loved one.  A range of emotions is normal.  Most women do fine.  We know that women have abortions because they care about themselves, their families, and their future families.

I have to say that I think the pro-choice movement has been too reluctant to acknowledge the mixed feelings and ambivalence that many women – and men – feel about abortion.  I think we’ve almost bought into the opposition’s message that if you feel bad about abortion it’s because abortion is immoral.  Just because you have mixed feelings – or even feel bad – that doesn’t mean you’ve made the wrong decision.

There are women who have difficulty coping after abortion.  One big factor is whether the woman made her own choice or if she was pressured into the decision by a partner or parent.  That is why we are so careful to make sure that our clients are not being coerced. 

Consider some of the other risk factors for problems with coping – stigma and social disapproval from others, secrecy and silence, lack of support from significant others.  I believe the current climate – and the continuous assault on abortion and women who have abortions – feeds into all of these risk factors, making these decisions even more difficult. 

Fear of being judged (or worse) keeps some women from talking with the very people they usually go to for emotional support – their parents, minister, friends.  The picture that has been painted by our opposition and the media leaves many of our patients terribly afraid of what they will experience and pleasantly surprised at how clean our facility is, how understanding our staff is, how comfortable they were during the procedure. 

We saw in the days before Roe that fear and isolation do not prevent women from having abortions.  But fear and isolation do prevent women from having the experience they deserve.  Both before and after the procedure.
                       *   *    *
Recently I read The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler.  This is a powerful collection of interviews with women who surrendered children for adoption (often unwillingly) in the years before Roe v. Wade.  One woman says:
A few years after I was married I became pregnant and had an abortion. . . . Every time I hear stories or articles or essays about the recurring trauma of abortion, I want to say, “you don’t have a clue.”  I’ve experienced both and I’d have an abortion any day of the week before I would ever have another adoption – or lose a kid in the woods, which is basically what it is.

This is not to say that adoption is not a good option for some women.  But remember, in the days before Roe, many young women really did not have a choice.  As another woman in the book said, “If I could have stayed home and had the baby and it had all been out in the open, or just had a choice of whether or not I wanted to surrender this baby ….”

The point is that a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy needs to make her own decision.  She needs to know that her feelings – all of them – are normal.  She needs to know that many other women have made the same decision – she is not alone.  And she needs to know that the people around her believe that whatever she decides, she does so because she cares about herself and her family. 
                 *     *     *
Despite the research, anti-choice activists continue to circulate claims that a majority of women who have abortions suffer trauma as a result.  They’ve even made up a name –  “post-abortion syndrome (PAS).” 

Anti-abortion groups have invented this condition to further their cause.  All of the studies that purport to prove PAS contain flaws – and all of them studied women who already self-identified as having problems after abortion. 

Almost a third of US women have had abortions.  If severe emotional reactions were common, it would be an epidemic and not a debate!
Twenty years ago, President Reagan – who was opposed to abortion – asked Surgeon General C. Everett Koop – also opposed to abortion – to produce a report on the health outcomes of abortion.  The report said that there was “insufficient evidence” to determine the psychological effects.  In closed meetings, Koop told representatives of several anti-choice groups that the risk of significant emotional problems after abortion was “miniscule.” 

And now politicians are getting into the act again – portraying abortion as harmful to women and abortion opponents as protectors of women.  All designed to shift the view of women from moral decision makers to victims who need to be protected from themselves.

A year ago, Supreme Court Justice Kennedy unveiled the new strategy when the Court upheld the federal ban on some abortion procedures.  He asserted that the ban was justified to protect women from the regret and emotional consequences he suggests they are likely to feel after having an abortion – essentially saying the law is necessary to protect the woman from making her own choice.   This, although he admits he could find “no reliable data” supporting his point of view.

In South Dakota this tactic has reached a new level.  Despite the fact that voters rejected an abortion ban just over a year ago, Planned Parenthood is fighting another law that passed in 2005.  This law would require doctors to tell women seeking abortions that the procedure would “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.”  This has to be done in writing and includes a variety of other statements – including descriptions of the supposed increased risk of depression and suicide after abortion.

There are times in life when we have to make complicated decisions.  Those decisions can sometimes be irreversible – like deciding to become a parent, to place a baby for adoption, or to have an abortion.  Who better to make a complicated, irreversible decision like this than the woman involved?
It seems ironic – or maybe I should say cruel – that politicians who pretend to be so concerned about women insist on telling lies or exaggerating the truth in the name of “protecting” them. 

If these politicians really cared about women, they would work with us to ensure that women get accurate information and the services they need, rather than resorting to fear tactics and degradation.  Their monolithic focus on stopping abortion has not just isolated women who have abortions, but abortion providers as well.  The result is fewer providers, higher cost, and less availability of affordable family planning services for the women who need it the most – women having abortions.

If these politicians really cared about women, they would do everything possible to eliminate the real reasons that women have abortions – including lack of access to affordable birth control and real sex education in our schools.  More than that, we need a social safety net that assures that no woman has an abortion because she is afraid that her children will go hungry, or because she can’t afford child care, or because she doesn’t have health insurance. 

            *       *      *
Ten years ago, PPCNC began offering abortion services because it was the only way we could guarantee that women could get the kind of abortion care they deserve – including both emotional and physical care.  

And the feedback we get – including the journals in our recovery room – tells me that we are succeeding – despite the opposition and lack of support our patients face outside Planned Parenthood: 
I came in expecting something horrific and was truly floored.  The staff, the procedure – I know this is a bit strange, but it was one of the most comforting experiences of my life.  I was really scared when I came in here – I have to say thank you and bless you all.   I have to say it again, Bless You All.

On behalf of all the women who have turned to PPCNC for the respectful and safe abortion care they deserve, thank you for your help. 
Best wishes,
 
Janet Colm
President & CEO
P.S.  I know many of you have already sent in support this year and I thank you, but if not, please donate now and support local services.  Your support allows us to provide women with safe, compassionate, and confidential care.

February 2008

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

Where did you first hear the facts of life? 

I was one of the lucky ones who got “the talk” from my mother.  Recently, though, I was talking with one of my sisters and she said that Mom never talked with her.  Years later when my sister asked her why, she said, “You never asked.” 

Fortunately, the schools were there for my sister and she got accurate information in her health class – including information about birth control.  She got better information in school 40 years ago than the vast majority of students in NC schools today!

I’ve been thinking about sex education a lot lately.  Not just because it’s my job and not just because I have a 15 year old (although I’m sure that enters into it!)  Our national president Cecile Richards brought this issue home to me when she spoke at our 25th anniversary gala last fall:

The US government has now spent more than $1 billion on abstinence-
only programs in our public schools!

It’s shocking when you think about all the good programs that are under-funded to think that we’ve now wasted $1 billion on wishful thinking. 

What’s the wish?  That if we just tell today’s teens to wait to have sex until they are married, we can protect them from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. 

Study after study has shown that abstinence-only programs do not work.  They do not persuade teens to abstain from sex.  They do not reduce the number of sex partners.  They do not protect our young people from pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.  They don’t work.

*    *     *     *

It’s hard to believe, but abstinence-only programs really are just that.  They either don’t talk about contraception or only talk about failure rates of the various birth control methods. 

Think about it:  the message we are giving students in these classes is birth control doesn’t  work!  

Is it any wonder that we have the highest teen pregnancy rate in the developed world?  Is it any wonder that for the first time in years, the teen birth rate in our county is actually going up?

Teen parents are less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to live in poverty.  Their children are often at low birth weight, have health and developmental programs, and are frequently poor, abused and/or neglected.

Abstinence-only programs are not just a waste of money.  They are dangerous. 

Almost two-thirds of high school seniors have had sex.  In North Carolina, 1 in 9 births is to a teenager.  Is there any other public health problem of this magnitude that we try to prevent with silence?

The Fayetteville Observer put it best in a recent editorial urging the Governor to reject federal abstinence-only funding: 

“Just say no” is a bumper sticker, not a curriculum.

*         *         *         *

Improving our state’s sex education program is one of the highest priorities on our legislative agenda.  Two years ago we made some progress in “cleaning up” the language in the abstinence-until-marriage law.  And last year we got further than ever before in completely re-writing the sex education law. 

The vast majority of Americans – and North Carolinians – support real sex education in our schools.  Real sex education is “abstinence plus” and includes information about birth control.

Yet North Carolina legislators are reluctant to change our laws.  That’s one reason that we’ve urged Governor Easley to join 15 other governors and reject federal abstinence-only funding.  Governors from Montana to Virginia have turned back this funding. 

As of this writing, roughly 35% of all abstinence-only funding has been rejected.  Our goal is to send a strong message to Congress:  this program should be amended to allow states to use the funding to support real sex education, including information about abstinence as well as contraception. 

*           *              *               *

It probably goes without saying that teen pregnancy has many causes.  It’s unrealistic to think that any one program is going make a serious dent in this problem.  The best solution would be a combination of community programs – including everything from good sex education to programs that keep teens in school to providing low cost contraception for young people.

There are some programs that have been shown to delay sexual activity and improve contraceptive use among sexually active teens.  These are programs that talk about abstinence and contraception -- along with peer pressure and communication skills.  The best programs are taught over several sessions by trained educators.  And they reflect the age, sexual experience, and culture of the participants. 

These are the qualities that PPCNC has built into our sex education programs.  For example, our peer educators receive 40 hours of training about a wide variety of issues facing young people today – from communication skills to body image to peer pressure to sexuality and contraception.

And if you ever want to see a group of fully-engaged young people, you should see peer educators share their views about the real-life situations teens face as they make their decisions about whether to be sexually active.  What a contrast to a lecture that “sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects”, as required by the federal guidelines for abstinence-only programs!

*             *           *           *  

If Congress and the Administration are serious about preventing teen pregnancy, another place they could invest that $1 billion is in the federal family planning program. 

Late last year President Bush vetoed an appropriations bill that included the largest increase in family planning funding in 35 years. This increase would have provided services for an additional 139,000 women – 73% of them under the age of 20.  The bill, which passed Congress by a wide margin, included $311 million for family planning programs – one third of what’s been wasted.

The family planning program is under constant attack.  Congress regularly considers proposals to require parental consent or notification before a teenager can get birth control at federally funded clinics – arguing that allowing teens to have access to birth control encourages teen sexual activity.  Fortunately, none of these proposals have passed. 

The truth is that the average teen waits more than a year after becoming sexually active before she visits a family planning clinic.  One study found that 20% of adolescent girls visiting family planning clinics for birth control would have unsafe sex if parental notification was required.  Only 1% said they would remain abstinent if their parents had to be notified.

*         *         *           *

And now older teens – college students – are facing still another problem. 

For 20 years, drug companies have made it possible for college health clinics and safety-net providers to purchase birth control at low prices in order to pass along the savings to the college students and low-income women who rely on them.

Last fall, college women returned to campus to discover that the birth control that previously cost them $5–10 for a monthly supply now costs them $40–50 per pack, making it far more difficult to afford.

Due to a provision included in the Deficit Reduction Act, every college health center, along with hundreds of safety-net providers, was unintentionally cut off from accessing low-cost birth control.  The result has been an increase in the average price of birth control on college campuses, often to 10 times the previous cost.

Skyrocketing prices are putting birth control out of reach for the college students and low-income women in need of family planning services. This crisis affects the estimated three million college women who take oral contraception, and hundreds of thousands of low-income women who obtain birth control through safety-net providers.

We are working with sister Planned Parenthoods across the country – along with our student chapters on local college campuses – to fix this issue in Congress.The bipartisan Prevention Through Affordable Access Act, would bring down the cost of birth control at college health clinics and safety-net providers. This legislation will not cost the taxpayers a single dime, and will restore affordable birth control.   The bill stalled in 2007.  We are determined to get it passed in 2008.

*               *            *           *

Planned Parenthood is unique.  We are a service provider and a political advocate.  We provide sex education when the schools will not.  We provide low cost contraception for those who need it most.  We advocate for public policy that guarantees reproductive health care – from real sex education to family planning to access to abortion.

We are also unique is the deep, trusting relationships that we have with young people.  And in the life-changing - and even life-saving - impact those relationships can have. 

Thanks for your help.

Best wishes,
Janet Colm
President & CEO

P.S.  All this is possible because of your support and the support of people like you.  People who believe that everyone, regardless of age, deserves the information and services they need so that they become parents when they are ready – and not before. 

Thanks again.

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

If I asked why you support Planned Parenthood, what would you say?  Would you talk about women’s rights?  About teen pregnancy?  Basic health care for the uninsured?  The environment? 

Maybe you would tell your own story.  Here is the story one of our donors shared with me recently.  These are her own words:

I was in college and got pregnant.  It was the summer before I was to head off to study abroad for the summer.  I did not want to get married and I did not want to have a child.  It was a really hard decision to make.  Luckily I had a very good experience, as far as those experiences can go, because they are difficult decisions.

My life would just have been drastically, drastically different. I’m so grateful.  At the time I didn’t know that I would later decide never to have children.  In fact, I guess my biggest fear was that something would get botched and I wouldn’t be able to. 

When I think of that summer abroad, it turned into two years and then it turned into a graduate degree in international studies and that turned into a career.  I mean, that took me to the other side of the globe and if that hadn’t happened …. That’s really from the heart.

I feel like it saved my life.  The right to choose saved my life.  I feel like someone gave me my life back when I had the abortion.

                                                                                  ******

Of course, the work of Planned Parenthood is about much more than just abortion.  We believe in prevention first.  In the last two years alone more than 25,000 women, men, and young people received preventive services from PPCNC – everything from honest sex education to birth control and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
                                              
                                                                                   ******

For 25 years we have had a dynamic board, committed staff, and tremendous support from our community.  We are proud of our progress, but our work is far
 
from over.    Unless we expand our reach and impact into new parts of our state, we are certain to see more pregnant teenagers; more young people with sexually transmitted diseases; more government restrictions on abortion, sex education and family planning. 

We believe that our organization has never been stronger and that the time is right for us to take on these challenges and vigorously expand our reach and impact. 

Our 25-county service area has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the state.  The need for Planned Parenthood is clear.  Our expansion plan centers around two strategic priorities - expanding medical and educational services into new parts of the region and increasing our political clout.

In 2005, our board approved the “Opening Doors, Changing Lives” fundraising campaign to provide the financial support we need to expand our services. 

Our goal is to raise $5 million by the end of 2008.  I am extremely happy to report to you that during the “silent” phase of this campaign, we have raised more than $4 million! 

                                                                                   ******

Opening Doors, Changing Lives has four key components:

A larger, more visible Durham health center that reflects the excellence that is the hallmark of Planned Parenthood;

A major investment in our advocacy work to identify and mobilize thousands of new pro-choice supporters, especially young people and those in new parts of the state;

Expansion of teen pregnancy prevention programs – including peer education - into new parts of central North Carolina;

And, finally, a new Planned Parenthood health center in Cumberland County, home of Fayetteville - the largest metropolitan area in our state that does not have a Planned Parenthood health center. 

                                                                                   ******

We have already made major strides in accomplishing our expansion plan. 

Almost two years ago, we moved into our new home on Roxboro Street in Durham.  Our new location offers the convenience of “open access” care – no appointments are necessary.  There is ample on-site parking.  It is accessible by public transportation.  And it has a wonderful combination of security and privacy.

In the face of dwindling government support for our services, our goal was to have a facility that will attract more paying patients and those with insurance – to help subsidize our patients who cannot pay.  We’ve always worked hard to provide the highest quality services while keeping our fees as low as possible.  The balance of meeting our mission and our bottom line is always challenging.

Today it is clear:  our strategy is working.  In the last 12 months alone, the number of patients who can pay for their care has increased by 11%!  These paying patients help provide the financial stability that we need in order to keep our fees as low as possible for low-income, uninsured, and teen patients.

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Our intensified advocacy work is also beginning to pay off.  Today we have 12,000 activists on our electronic alert list.  We have new coalition partners and are working with them more effectively than ever before.  We have organized VOX:  Voices for Planned Parenthood groups on college campuses throughout the region – including the nation’s first VOX chapters on historically black college campuses.  The Planned Parenthood Leadership Institute is training young people in the skills they need to become the next generation of pro-choice leaders – including a group of 10 students at UNC-Pembroke we are training this fall.

Our activists sent more than 30,000 pro-choice emails to North Carolina legislators in the last two years and helped stop every anti-choice bill that was introduced.  And, for the first time in more than 10 years, we’ve been able to pass bills that actually advance reproductive health – including increased state funding for family planning programs, improvements in sex education, and a cervical cancer awareness bill.

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In central North Carolina, more than 4300 teenagers get pregnant every year.  Yet, North Carolina law makes it exceedingly difficult for local public schools to go beyond the “abstinence until marriage” message to young people.  As a result, young people in only a handful of counties receive real sex education that includes information about contraception along with abstinence. 

In the face of these challenges, we are expanding our prevention programs to reach young people outside of the public schools.  Our peer education program trains “guerrilla” sex educators – teens who provide accurate information and referrals to other teens.  And we are working with new partners – including charter schools and churches.  Despite the fact that the doors to our schools are closed to Planned Parenthood, are now providing real sex education to young people in places like Northampton, Cumberland, Chatham, and Alamance Counties, in addition to the work we’ve been doing for years in Orange and Durham Counties.

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Cumberland County, home of Fayetteville, is the fifth largest county in the state.  The need for Planned Parenthood services in Cumberland County is tremendous.  Of the largest metropolitan areas of our state, Cumberland County is the only one that does not have a Planned Parenthood health center; it also has the highest teen pregnancy rate, (more than 16 girls get pregnant every week) and the second highest abortion rate (more than 1500 women receive abortions each year.) 

The health department provides family planning services, but is not open evenings or weekends and a new patient must wait 6 -12 weeks for an appointment for birth control.  An estimated 17,000 Cumberland County women who need subsidized family services are not currently served by publicly funded health care providers. 

We started laying the groundwork for our new health center four years ago when we launched our peer education program in Fayetteville.  Today we have three staff members and more than 100 peer educators working there.  We have programs on the campuses of local universities and partnerships with community groups – including the Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Coalition that we helped revive.   We have board members from the community and volunteers who are helping open doors and raise money.  And we have identified 5000 pro-choice activists who are members of our electronic alert list. 

We are ready to take the next step:  opening a Planned Parenthood health center in Fayetteville. If all goes well, we should be providing birth control, cancer screening, abortion services, and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases for the women and men of Fayetteville and the surrounding area late next year.
 

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On behalf of the thousands of women, men, young people, and families who depend on Planned Parenthood – thank you for your support!

Best wishes,

Janet Colm
President & CEO

P.S.  When people ask me why I work at Planned Parenthood, this is what I tell them. 

No other organization can fulfill Planned Parenthood’s role as a service provider and a political advocate.  I believe in the Planned Parenthood vision – a world in which everyone is able to make life’s most profound decisions about sexuality, about relationships, and about whether and when to become a parent. 

It must have been almost exactly 25 years ago that I interviewed for the job as Executive Director of a new Planned Parenthood affiliate – Planned Parenthood of Orange County.

Things got off to a rocky beginning – the morning of the interview, I couldn’t get my car started!   Fortunately, it was not too far to walk to the office where our founding mothers were interviewing candidates and I made it on time (although, being August, it was hot!)

I was very excited about this opportunity.  As a college student just a few years earlier, I read a collection of letters written to Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood.  What an eye-opener for a young woman in college during the sexual revolution!  

I am 25 years old, have been married seven years and I am the mother of five children.  When my first child was a year and six months old I had another, when that was a year and five months old I had another, when that was a year and four months old I had another, when it was six months old I started with another but miscarried at three months and three months from then I started with another and miscarried that at eight months, so by rights I am the mother of six.

These letters really drove home to me what my life would be like without access to reliable, affordable birth control.  To think that I could be involved with an organization like Planned Parenthood – one that I knew would make a genuine difference in the lives of all kinds of women – that would be a dream job!

Just a month after I started work, I attended my first Planned Parenthood annual conference.  Most of that conference is long-forgotten, but there are a few things I will never forget.  Being confronted by angry anti-choice picketers.  Being in a room with hundreds of other people who agreed with me about the critical importance of a woman’s right to contraception and abortion.  Trying to figure out what to say when people said, “North Carolina? What are you going to do about Jesse Helms?”  That meeting was the first time I thought, “Maybe this will be the job I keep for the rest of my career.”

Earlier this summer, I was interviewed by a young woman who is compiling 25 profiles for our 25th anniversary celebration (which you can see at our website.)  She asked me what the biggest changes were in the last 25 years.  I didn’t know where to begin. 

The entire world has changed so much.  AIDS was a disease that we thought affected only a few gay men in California.  In North Carolina, Spanish was a language spoken only in classrooms.  And the idea that a woman who did not want surgery could chose to end an unwanted pregnancy with a pill was revolutionary. 

Sexually transmitted infections were called VD and the most common STI’s today -  chlamydia, HIV, herpes, HPV - were unheard of 25 years ago.   Birth control was the pill, diaphragm, and a new method – the contraceptive sponge.  Condoms were old fashioned; after the Dalkon Shield disaster, IUD’s were almost never being used.  The “morning after pill”, which we now know as emergency contraception, was a rumor on college campuses.

z z z

In some ways things were actually better 25 years ago.  In North Carolina, we had an actively pro-choice governor who supported our state abortion fund - $1.5 million that helped poor women in NC pay for abortion services.  Today the Fund is $50,000 and it is so tied up in legislative red-tape that no woman has been able to use it in the last 8 years. 

Twenty-five years ago, NC had a model sex education program so that children in kindergarten through high school received age-appropriate, honest information about human sexuality – including (for older students) birth control.  Today, teachers are censored by the state – making it extremely difficult for them to do much more than shake their fingers and say “don’t do ‘it’.”   

And, 25 years ago, the Supreme Court had six pro-choice Justices and just two anti-choice Justices.  The ninth Justice – Sandra Day O’Connor – had yet to vote on an abortion case.  Today, as we found out just this past spring, we have an anti-choice majority on the Supreme Court.  And, today, for the first time since Roe, states can now restrict abortion without an exception to protect the woman’s health. 

Our first health center opened in a tiny, dingy office in Hillsborough the following October.  My first report to the board after we opened proudly announced that we had seen 14 patients in the first month of services!   Today each of our health centers helps many more clients than that every day!

We presented “How to be an Askable Parent” programs in local libraries and churches.  These programs probably were not the most effective – participating parents were already highly motivated to provide good information in a responsible way to their children.  On the other hand, programs like this were a great way for us to introduce Planned Parenthood to the community.  Similarly, as we work towards opening our new health center in Fayetteville, we have used our award-winning peer education program as a way to build support for our organization, and to establish relationships with other human service agencies there.

Twenty-five years ago, our alert list consisted of a hand-written list of thirty board members.  Today, we have an electronic list of 24,000 pro-choice supporters throughout central North Carolina – half of them outside the Triangle.  We have pro-choice activists in Gates, Warren, Robeson, Sampson, and Johnston Counties.  In fact, we have pro-choice activists in every legislative district in our service area.  And they are making their voices heard!  For the first time in years, our pro-active Prevention First legislative agenda is moving forward!

What’s ahead for Planned Parenthood in the next 25 years?  Well, first things first – our Fayetteville health center.  We are in the early stages of designing a new Planned Parenthood health center.  We have a lot of work to do – finishing up our fundraising, construction, buying equipment and furnishings, hiring and training staff.  Our goal is to be open for business in early 2009.

Fayetteville is the capital of Cumberland County – the home of Fort Bragg, the largest army base in the country.  Of the seven largest counties in our state, Cumberland County is the only one that does not have a Planned Parenthood health center.  Of the seven largest counties in our state, Cumberland also has the highest teen pregnancy rate, with over 16 girls getting pregnant every week.  The Alan Guttmacher Institute estimates that 17,000 Cumberland County women need subsidized family planning services and are not presently being served.  Cumberland has the highest abortion rate of the metropolitan counties in our state – with more than 1500 Cumberland County women receiving abortions each year.  It also has significant problems with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. 

People from all over the Sandhills area come to Fayetteville for health care. In the eight neighboring counties, the Guttmacher Institute estimates there are an additional 16,000 women in need of subsidized family planning services who are not presently being served.  There is no abortion provider in any of these counties – and a total of 1500 women from this area had abortions in 2004 (the last year for which data is available.)  This area also has some of the state’s highest teen pregnancy rates – five counties are in the worst third, including Robeson with the 4th highest and Richmond with the 8th highest teen pregnancy rates.

When that young woman asked me what I wanted the world to be like in 25 years, it brought me up short.  I thought about where I will be in 25 years – probably retired!  I thought about my son – and possibly my grandchildren (he is 14, after all ….).   I thought about the Supreme Court.  Is 25 years long enough for the Court to change back to a pro-choice position?  What damage can happen in the meantime?  I thought about the sad state of health care in our country – and wondered whether we can ever move to a system that guarantees health care for everyone – including excellent reproductive health care that is not up for debate every four years. 

Because you are a supporter of Planned Parenthood, I suspect that we share many of the same dreams.  We are committed to respectful and affordable health care.  We believe in honest, accurate, unbiased information that empowers people of all ages to make their own responsible choices.  And we know the power of political action to achieve our mission. 

Our vision is a world in which everyone is able to make life’s most profound choices about sexuality, about relationships, and about whether and when to become a parent.  Fully informed.  Free from government intrusion.  Regardless of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, or economic circumstance.

I’m not sure if that is possible in the next 25 years.  But it’s sure worth working towards.

Best wishes,

Janet Colm
President & CEO

P.S.  Our 25^th anniversary celebration is October 22.  Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is the featured speaker.  Look for more details soon.  I look forward to seeing you then!

April 2007

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

I have to admit that sometimes it’s hard for me to see the progress we are making.  It’s so easy to get consumed by all the struggles – from the halls of our local schools to the Supreme Court.  That’s one reason why I love the letters our patients send us. 

Recently, though, it has felt different to me.  It seems like every day I become aware of another breakthrough – a small advance – another victory!

             z z z

In our health services, for example.

Last fall, the FDA finally approved “behind-the-counter” status for emergency contraception.  “EC” is not the abortion pill – it is a high dose of the same hormones in the regular birth control pill.  It can actually prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse.

Planned Parenthood worked hard for this victory.  We know first hand how important this method of birth control is for women whose birth control failed or who didn’t use birth control for some other reason.  Here at PPCNC, we operated a statewide EC hotline for many years.  We provided telephone screening and prescriptions for EC for as many as 400 women a month.

Now, any woman over the age of 18 who has a picture ID, can go into a pharmacy or Planned Parenthood health center and ask the pharmacist for EC.  There are still barriers, to be sure – especially for teens and women who want more privacy than talking with their pharmacist.  None-the-less – we have a breakthrough!

z z z

And there is more.  The new HPV vaccine that can actually prevent uterine cancer.  Considering that as many as 25% of all women have HPV (not all strains of the virus cause cancer), this is a tremendous advance in women’s health.  HPV is a sexually transmitted infection and the vaccine is recommended for girls before they become sexually active. 

It’s not perfect – the vaccine can cost more than $300 for the full regimen.  And, hard as it is to believe, some extremists are opposed because they believe the vaccine will promote irresponsible sexual behavior!  Still, this is the first vaccine against a form of cancer and it could save thousands of lives every year.

In the last few weeks, PPCNC has added two other important services.  We now offer the rapid HIV test which makes it possible for clients to get their results within minutes.  And, we are one of the first providers in the state to offer Implanon, the newest form of birth control.  Implanon is a hormonal contraceptive that is implanted in the woman’s arm.  It is effective for up to three years.  We are proud once again to be at the forefront of reproductive health care in our community!

              z z z

Perhaps the arena where I feel this sense of “breakthrough” the most is in our advocacy work.  For years we have called our political work a victory because we have been able to stop every anti-choice bill that was introduced in the General Assembly.  That is a major accomplishment – no anti-choice legislation has passed our state since 1994!

On the other hand, we have not been able to pass any legislation that actually makes things better – in fact, we often haven’t even been able to even find sponsors to introduce pro-active legislation. 

Now - for the first time in years - we are not just fighting off bad bills.  We are actually advancing proactive legislation. 

Legislation that will give our young people real sex education.  Legislation that provides more funding for family planning for low income women.  Legislation that requires hospital emergency rooms to provide emergency contraception to women who’ve been raped.

We don’t know if these bills will pass, but the new level of support for reproductive health is a breakthrough.  Best of all, we aren’t just fighting off threats to abortion, we are advancing our prevention package!

For the past 13 years, it has been virtually impossible for young people to get good sex education in our public schools.  Last year, the Legislature tinkered with the “abstinence until marriage” sex education law, resulting in some modest improvements.  This year, Rep. Susan Fisher has introduced a complete overhaul of the curriculum – to make sure our young people get sensible sex education that includes abstinence and contraception.

There isn’t just one sponsor or five or even 15 for the bill that requires hospitals to provide EC for women who’ve been raped.  There are almost 50 members of the House who have signed on to this bill.  It is no coincidence that Planned Parenthood activists targeted 47 legislators asking them to sign on to this bill. We don’t know if these bills will pass, but the new level of support for reproductive health is a breakthrough.  Best of all, we aren’t just fighting off threats to abortion, we are advancing our prevention package!

And when Sen. Katie Dorsett (D-Guilford) introduced a bill to provide parents with educational materials about cervical cancer, HPV, and the new vaccines, it passed the Senate unanimously!

z z z

For years we have known that we need to do more in the rural parts of our service area.  Teens in these areas have extremely high rates of pregnancy.  Women who need family planning and abortion care have few options.  Pro-choice supporters feel isolated and powerless.

Here too, we see breakthroughs.  We are expanding our peer education program.  We’ve conducted this program for years in Durham, Fayetteville, and Orange County.  We’ve trained hundreds of young people to provide accurate information and referrals to their friends and family.  Now we are working in collaboration with other community groups to train peer educators in places like Siler City in Chatham County and Gray’s Creek in Cumberland County.

The breakthrough is not only the expansion of our education.  It is also a tremendous accomplishment that these schools and community groups understand the value of good sex education, trust Planned Parenthood as the best sex educators, and are eager to collaborate with us.

What a long way we’ve come since the days when a local middle school cancelled our puberty education programs for sixth-graders because a parent complained that she wanted “the other side” represented!

z z z

We’ve always worked hard to provide the highest quality services while keeping our fees as low as possible.  The balance of meeting our mission and our bottom line is always challenging.

For more than 15 years, our Durham health center operated out of a renovated mill house on Broad Street.  The number of women coming to us for care – especially low income and uninsured women – has increased dramatically over the past few years.  In fact, between 2003 and 2006, we served 50% more patients!

A year ago, we moved into a new facility.  Our goal was to provide a more comfortable and private facility for our existing patients. 

And, in the face of dwindling government support for our services, we need to have a facility that will attract more paying patients and those with insurance – to help subsidize our patients who cannot pay. 

Now, slightly more than a year after moving, we are seeing results!  In the last six months, we served 13% more paying patients in Durham than during the same period the previous year!  These paying patients help provide the financial stability that we need in order so that we can keep our fees as low as possible for low-income, uninsured, and teen patients.

z z z

There are more than 120 local Planned Parenthood affiliates in the country.  In a recent report, we were ranked second in the country in the proportion of our budget which is provided by people like you – our community supporters.

Fundraising supports programs like education, outreach, advocacy – programs that do not generate revenue.  Fundraising makes it possible for us to expand services to new parts of our service area.

Over the past three years, the support of people like you has helped us to move into our new home in Durham.  To expand our education programs into Cumberland County and then into Chatham, Alamance, and Northampton Counties.  It is the support of people like you that has made us a political force in our state. 

And, thanks to people like you, we are making real progress towards our goal of opening our third health center – in Fayetteville.  

We are one of the youngest (if not the youngest) Planned Parenthood in the country.    Yet we are able provide more education, more advocacy, more outreach than many other Planned Parenthoods – thanks to you!

Best wishes,

Janet Colm

President & CEO

P.S.   I know there will always be challenges ahead.  With the help of Planned Parenthood supporters like you, we will always have breakthroughs!

February 2007

Dear Friend of Planned Parenthood,

As I prepared to write this update, I looked back through January updates from years past.  In odd-numbered years, I invariable reflect on the election of the previous fall:

January 2003:  “For those of us who care about reproductive freedom, this may be the most challenging time we have seen in the 30 years since the Supreme Court legalized abortion.  For the first time since the Roe v. Wade decision, the US Senate, House, and White House rest in the hands of anti-choice forces. ”

January 2005:  “Since November, we have been subjected to what feels like unending debate about the lessons of the election . . . .  Chief Justice Rehnquist officiated at the inauguration of President Bush, providing a chilling reminder that the average age of the current U.S. Supreme Court justices is 70, and two are octogenarians.”

How different it is this year.  Voters across the country gave a resounding message:  politicians should not meddle with decisions better left to women, their families, and their doctors.

In South Dakota, one of the most conservative states in the country, voters rejected the state’s extreme abortion ban.  In Congress, we picked up four pro-choice Senators and 18 pro-choice Representatives.  Both the House and the Senate now have pro-choice leadership.  In Kansas, fiercely anti-choice Attorney General Phil Kline was defeated in his re-election bid.  Six states elected new governors with better positions on reproductive health than their predecessors, including four who are solidly pro-choice.  All across the country state legislatures became more pro-choice. 

It feels like a new day.

z z z

And here in North Carolina, 39 of the 43 candidates endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Political Action Committee (PAC) of Central North Carolina were elected.  

In Wake County, the PAC endorsed challenger Ty Harrell for the NC House of Representatives.  He defeated anti-choice zealot Rep. Russell Capps in what was considered to be an uphill battle to unseat a Republican incumbent in a district with a majority of registered Republicans.  

This was an important victory for choice.  Russell Capps was not just against women making their own decisions about abortion.  He was also the only legislator in the NC House to vote against the repeal of our state’s involuntary sterilization law.  This law, which was repealed in 2003, allowed more than 7600 women, some as young as 10 years old, to be sterilized against their will. 

The Planned Parenthood PAC contributed financially to Rep. Harrell’s campaign.  Our volunteers called and e-mailed hundreds of pro-choice voters asking them to vote for Ty Harrell.  And, with help from Lt. Governor Bev Perdue, 1800 “robo calls” were made to pro-choice voters asking them to support increased prevention services, including birth control and family planning.

In Cumberland County, our PAC supported Rep. Rick Glazier.  Rep. Glazier faced tough opposition from Alex Warner, who ran on a so-called “moral values” platform.  The PAC contributed financially to Rep. Glazier’s campaign and our volunteers canvassed neighborhoods and worked the polls on Election Day asking undecided voters to cast their vote for Rep. Glazier. 

            Today, almost one-quarter (23%) of the NC House and Senate are legislators

who were endorsed by the Planned Parenthood PAC.  This includes Rep. Joe Hackney who, at this writing, appears to be the next Speaker of the House.

Maybe it really is a new day!

z z z

But, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.  We still face significant challenges.

Just one day after voters nationwide rallied in support of women's health, attorneys for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), stood before the U.S. Supreme Court and urged the Justices to protect women’s health as they considered the case against the federal abortion ban – the so-called “Partial Birth Abortion Ban.”

"This ban puts women's health in danger by forbidding doctors from providing their patients with the care they believe is safest and best," said Eve Gartner, senior staff attorney for PPFA, who argued the case.

This case is not about late-term abortion.  The ban was carefully written to strike at the heart of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.  One of the key tenets of Roe is that any abortion restriction must include an exception to protect the life and health of the woman. 

Every court that has examined the federal abortion ban has struck it down.  They all agreed:  the ban fails to protect women's health. Just six years ago, the Supreme Court itself struck down a very similar Nebraska abortion ban because it did not have a health exception.  Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provided the critical vote that upheld protections for women’s health.  Since then, she has retired and been replaced on the court by Justice Samuel Alito.

In addition, the ban is so broadly and vaguely written, it would outlaw abortions as early as 12 to 15 weeks in pregnancy even if the doctor says it is the best way to protect the woman’s health. 

Make no mistake:  this ban is part of a bigger agenda to chip away at the underpinnings of Roe and ultimately criminalize all abortions. 

A decision in this case is expected this summer.

z z z

And then, just days later, President Bush appointed anti-birth control, anti-sex education Eric Keroack to oversee the federal family planning program – proof that the administration remains dramatically out of step with the nation’s priorities.  The appointment did not require Senate confirmation.

Prior to this appointment, Keroack served as medical director for six so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” that oppose contraception, claiming it is “demeaning to women.”

In his new role, Keroack will oversee an annual budget of $283 million that supports the federal family planning program (Title X).  This program was signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970.  It provides family planning services to 5 million low-income people a year.  The program has never recovered from deep cuts in the 1980’s and is woefully under-funded.  If funding had kept pace with medical inflation since 1980, the program would be more than two times its current level.

My concern about Title X is not just academic.  Our Durham health center has received funding from this program since 2001.  Last year we received $175,000 which helped provide family planning services for almost 1000 uninsured, low-income women, more than half of them Latina. 

Almost 120,000 Planned Parenthood supporters have already signed an on-line petition  to protest this appointment and demand the appointment of someone who is committed to prevention and full funding of America’s family planning program.  For more information, go to http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ or sign and return the enclosed card.

z z z

And, here in North Carolina we have the ninth highest teenage pregnancy rate of any state.  Almost one out of every five pregnancies ends in abortion.  Family planning clinics in our state serve fewer than half of all women in need of publicly funded contraceptive services.

Planned Parenthood believes people deserve medically accurate information and reliable, affordable contraceptive services.  That’s the only way for us to see fewer unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.

While there will always be a need to monitor and organize against our opposition, we can do better.  We need to move past playing defense and offer a common-sense, proactive legislative agenda that puts prevention first.  That is the mission of Planned Parenthood and that is my New Year’s Resolution!

Thank you very much for all your support over the years.  I look forward to continuing to work with you in the days ahead to accomplish our mission.

Sincerely,

Janet Colm

President & CEO

P.S.  We have a new Senate, a new House, and a Legislature.  It is a new day.  With your help, we can seize this new day, move forward, and put prevention first.