Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands has merged with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky to become a new organization: Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai'i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky.
The merger is a forward-looking move. Through it, Planned Parenthood can bolster the fight for reproductive rights in each state, recover from heavy damages wrought during the time of the Trump administration and the COVID-19 pandemic, and plug all Planned Parenthood health centers into the best medical technology and education — keeping Planned Parenthood poised to expand access and improve reproductive care at every opportunity.
The organization will now serve over 122,000 patients across six states.
What is the new name of the organization?
Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky (PPGNHAIK). The IRS Employer Identification Number for tax purposes is 91-0686012.
What are the different states included in the merger?
The states included in the merger are Alaska, Hawai’i, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington.
What is the mission of PPGNHAIK?
Together we advocate, educate, and provide exceptional health care supporting sexual health, wellness, and reproductive freedom — without judgment, without fear, without fail.
Why did the two organizations merge?
The recent political attacks of anti-choice politicians have had some incredibly harmful and lasting impacts on Planned Parenthood over the past four years. The loss of Title X funding due to the domestic gag rule, as well as low Medicaid reimbursement rates, severely impacted both affiliates.
Directly following the defunding of Planned Parenthood by the Trump administration, the COVID-19 pandemic lowered patient volumes and skyrocketed costs to obtain steady supplies of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), maintain social distance among patients and staff, and keep staff up to date on the latest CDC guidelines.
In fact, Chief Operations Officer Rebecca Gibron called the combination of the Trump administration and the coronavirus pandemic one of the worst storms Planned Parenthood has had to weather.
As reproductive health care providers, the top priority has been to retain access for patients, and that has required Planned Parenthood affiliates to be extremely adaptable to change. However, the organizations had to find a way to prioritize patients above all else and still be able to survive long-term.
PPGNHI and PPINK recognized an opportunity to work together in early 2018 and began a strategic alliance in 2019. The alliance allowed the staff of both organizations to share information, best practices, professional development opportunities, and it expanded resources for both providers and patients.
After eighteen months, the alliance was shown to be successful in improving each entity's ability to deliver timely, affordable and expert health care for patients - especially through a pandemic.
So, in pursuit of a long-term, sustainable strategy to keep the most access in place for the most patients, the two organizations legally and formally merged in April of 2021.
The merger will help to further consolidate administrative work and costs, allowing more resources to go directly to serving patients and educating young people.
What changes are occurring due to this merger?
The services available in Western state health centers will remain the same. Eastern states will retain all services as well. For most patients and communities served, the only noticeable change will be the name of the organization.
Looking ahead, PPGNHAIK plans to expand services available to patients in Indiana and Kentucky, such as gender affirming care and medication abortion. And expansions in telehealth access will continue to occur throughout the organization.
Social media has not yet switched to reflect the merger, so please stay tuned to the PPGNHI social media pages and the PPINK social media pages you regularly follow for updates.
If I donate, will my money still help my local health center?
Yes! Just as always, your donation goes to help where it is needed most - your neighborhood Planned Parenthood health center included. Both PPINK and PPGNHI donation links will continue to work for the near future.
I donated recently to PPINK/PPGNHI. Where will my money go?
Not to worry - your money will still show up and will quickly be put to work providing reproductive health care! Preparations have been made so that money sent to either organization will still be received and counted by the merged entity during this transition time.
How will the merger benefit patients?
There are many ways that the merger will benefit patients and non-patients, both directly and indirectly.
One of the most direct ways the merger will benefit patients is the expansion of services. Plans to expand medication abortion and gender affirming care to areas that lack these services are currently in place. Expansion of telehealth services has been ongoing.
Patients at all locations benefit from expanded education, training, and professional development for health care providers.
In the long term, especially in areas where reproductive health care is most threatened such as Indiana, Idaho and Kentucky, Planned Parenthood will be stronger and better positioned to fight to keep health care available, accessible, and affordable to all.
Where are PPGNHAIK health centers located?
PPGNHAIK Health centers are located across six states in Alaska, Hawai’i, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington.
There are four health centers in Alaska: Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks and Soldotna.
In Hawai’i, health centers are located on the islands of Oahu in Honolulu and on Maui in Kahului.
Idaho has three health centers in Boise, Meridian and Twin Falls.
Indiana has 14 health centers in Bloomington, Columbus, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Hammond, three health centers in Indianapolis, Lafayette, Merrillville, Michigan City, Mishawaka, and New Albany.
Kentucky has two health centers located in Lexington and Louisville.
In Washington, the PPGNHAIK health centers include Bellevue, Bremerton, Centralia, Everett, Federal Way, Lynnwood, Marysville, Olympia, Port Angeles, Puyallup, three in Seattle, Tacoma, and White Center.
Will any health centers be closed due to the merger?
No, there are no plans to close any health centers due to the merger. While it is true that four health centers were recently closed - three in Washington and one and Indiana - this was for financial reasons pertaining to losses of funding during the Trump administration, and was a decision made separate from and prior to the merger. One of the reasons the organizations merged was to improve the chances of not needing to close more health centers due to the damage done in the past four years.
Have Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawai’i and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana and Kentucky changed as well?
Yes, these political advocacy groups have merged to form Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates of Alaska, Hawai’i, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington. Please check out their new web page to learn more.
I have more questions! How do I contact PPGNHAIK?
You can visit our new website at www.ppgnhaik.org, and reach out by email to [email protected] with general questions, or [email protected] with questions for Fundraising. You can reach out to our contact center by phone at 1-800-769-0045.