The 1970s commenced with unparalleled government support for family planning and women's reproductive rights. A new bill granted federal funding to birth control clinics, and a groundbreaking court decision gave women the right to safe and legal abortions. But a new challenge arose for birth control providers: teen pregnancy rates skyrocketed in the '70s. To address this new problem, the Maternal Health Association made changes in its policy to make its services available without regard to age.
In the early 70s, lines of teens asked for help at birth control clinics, focusing widespread attention on the exploding rate of teenage pregnancy. The Cleveland Press reported in 1970, "Planned Parenthood today proposes to establish a birth control program, along with counseling and other services, for teenage girls who are sexually active. Confronted with what has been described as a sex revolution, especially among teenagers, medical co-director Dr. Janet Dingle Kent felt that Planned Parenthood's present challenge had become how best to serve youth." Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland lifted age restrictions on its services, determining that refusal of service based on age did not serve its goal: "Every child a wanted child."
On Christmas Eve 1970, President Richard Nixon signed into law Title X of the Public Health Services Act, providing federal funds for family planning information and services. The funding made family planning services accessible and affordable for all women. Thanks to groundwork laid by Planned Parenthood and the Community Family Planning Project, local birth control agencies successfully applied for funds and coordinated their efforts under the Metropolitan Cleveland Family Planning Program.
The next year, the George Gund Foundation provided a grant to Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland and Planned Parenthood-World Population. The grant established a National Institute for Family Planning Management Training for executive directors of Planned Parenthood affiliates. For five years, the institute continued under Gund Foundation support as a national program for Planned Parenthood-World Population.
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, ruled that the constitutional right of privacy extends to a woman's choice of whether to bear a child. Before this decision, complications of illegal abortions represented the number one cause for emergency room admissions among American women. The Maternal Health Association had expressed concerns about abortion as early as 1937. That year, Dr. Ruth Robishaw, the Maternal Health Association's first staff physician, lectured on the "scourge" of abortion. The "chief responsibility for its correction," she said, "lies at the door of the medical profession." She claimed that physicians had the duty to provide patients with contraceptive care and education. A researcher as well as a physician, she estimated that in Cleveland in the 1930s, illegal abortions caused almost one-fifth of maternity-related deaths.
In 1977, Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland's 50th year of service, volunteers and leaders raised funds from local companies for the Community Reproductive Education and Service Project. The project ultimately established PPGC as the training center for parents, educators, and youth workers in sexuality education.
