1980s - Beating the Odds
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan - and a small army of right wing supporters - launched a full-scale attack on family planning services and reproductive choice. They cut Title X funding, stacked the courts with conservative judges, and instituted a "gag rule" that barred Title X funded clinics from giving pregnant women information about abortion, even when the women requested it. Despite these obstacles, Planned Parenthood widened its outreach to meet the needs of teens and poor women, many of whom were left without affordable contraception and healthcare when other clinics closed.
In 1982, Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland's trustees and staff undertook an exhaustive evaluation of all services and programs. As a result, they closed the Cornell Road site, which was badly in need of repairs and located among a concentration of family planning providers, and opened clinics in Bedford, East Cleveland and Lakewood, bringing services closer to the women who needed them. But, as the circle of poverty deepened and widened in Cuyahoga County, the demand for family planning services grew. In some Cleveland neighborhoods, 90 percent of the residents lived at or below the poverty level. Pockets of poverty also appeared in the suburbs closest to the city.
New administrative methods such as the cross-training of clinic staff, advances in clinical productivity, and improved methods of service delivery allowed Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland to serve more clients with fewer staff members at a lower cost per visit. This "efficiency model" helped the organization meet the explosive growth, and allowed it to reach 10,800 clients in 1987, compared to 5,000 in 1982. In the late '80s, PPGC responded to the rising incidence of AIDS by adding HIV testing to its services.
In 1989, the Supreme Court struck two major blows against abortion rights. The Webster v. Reproductive Health Services decision expanded states' rights to regulate abortion, and the Ohio v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health decision allowed states to restrict an unmarried minor's access to abortion by requiring parental notification.
At the same time, Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland stepped up its public outreach and increased its education efforts. In May 1989, national advocates for women's issues stopped in Cleveland for two events, and local leaders conducted 30 media interviews, more than half of the total interviews done the year before. The annual Spring Forum featured Roe v. Wade attorney Sarah Weddington, and the City Club of Cleveland debate featured Faye Wattleton, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
As a part of its long-time mission to educate individuals, families, and organizations about reproduction, Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland opened the Alice Malone Sexual Health Resource Center, named after PPGC's first African American Executive Director. The center provided books, reference materials, videos, and curricula for students, parents, educators, and youth-serving professionals. In the '80s, PPGC also launched a peer sex education effort for teens, continued its Postponing Sexual Involvement program for Cleveland middle school students, and began the Life Options program to give young teens in the Cleveland Public Schools the tools and skills necessary to make positive choices about their future.
Continue to Hard Times, Tough Decisions - 1990s
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