EC and BC Made E-Z

On April 3, 2006, four Washington affiliates — Planned Parenthood of Central Washington, Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest, Planned Parenthood of Mt. Baker, and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington — launched online services. Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette (PPCW) already had an Online Health Center (OHC).

PPCW launched its OHC in 2002 with EC and added hormonal contraception in 2004, the first Planned Parenthood affiliate in the country to do so. Now renamed the "Planned Parenthood Online Health Center," it allows a woman to place a secure, confidential order by filling out a short medical history, and after a phone consultation with a licensed nurse, she can have her prescription mailed to her, or pick it up at a pharmacy or Planned Parenthood health center of her choice.

The goal of the collaboration is not only to better serve Oregon and Washington family planning patients online but also to increase access to safe, effective birth control methods. In the Pacific Northwest, 19 percent of the population — including an estimated 212,000 women in need of contraceptive services and supplies — live in rural areas, separated from cities by hundreds of miles.

Many women who work full-time also have trouble accessing family planning services. In Oregon and Washington, more than 140,000 households are headed by single women working full-time. Regardless of whether they live in urban or rural areas, they may not be able to easily leave work to go to the doctor or community health center, even if it's located right in their community.

"Our work is about increasing access to the services women need," said Anu Ponnamma, PPCW vice president of marketing and program development, "and what better way than by creating collaborative models with our sister affiliates?"

Here's to the future of accessible birth control for women!

© 2006 Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. All rights reserved.