81 Years: The Story of Us

OUR BEGINNINGS

In 1931, Margret Sanger came to Kansas City to enlist the community in forming an organization dedicated to family planning. Four years later, what would become Planned Parenthood Great Plains was founded as the Maternal Health League of Kansas City, serving 300 patients in its first year. Under the name the Planned Parenthood Association (adopted 1942), the nonprofit established its first permanent office, and, in 1949, began organizing a large scale volunteer program.

GROWTH AND CHANGE

PPGP’s early decades were a time of shifting national attitudes. Thanks to the FDA’s 1960 approval of oral contraception, Planned Parenthood began offering birth control pills in 1961, and, in 1966, the last restrictive legislation on birth control was eliminated, making contraception legal in all states. Rapid growth and expansion has led to more than 12 health centers in a four-state region, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

EDUCATING AND ADVOCATING IN THE COMMUNITY

In 1972 the Planned Parenthood Information and Education Committee identified the need for high quality human sexuality education in the community and concluded that Planned Parenthood was the answer to that need. As a result, a full-time Director of Information and Education was hired to develop and implement the program. Community Educators were hired and in the years to follow, thousands of young people and others participated through schools, community centers and religious settings. In addition, a wide range of professionals attended training seminars and workshops conducted by Planned Parenthood staff. The Planned Parenthood library began in the 1960‘s and is now known as the Suzanne E. Allen Resource Library. It has brochures, books and videos on a variety of topics related to sexuality, reproductive health and reproductive rights.

The eighties brought with it increased involvement in legislative affairs pertaining to family planning; a Public Affairs Committee was formed in 1980, and, the next year, the Public Affairs Department was established, featuring a Legislative Alert Network of over 1,200 people devoted to advocating for reproductive freedom in legislation and public policy.

PPGP IS FORMED

Planned Parenthood continued to expand the scope and nature of its services, beginning confidential AIDs testing in 1990, creating the first Chaplain position of any Planned Parenthood Affiliate in 1991, and, in 1993, providing male services in addition to partner treatment. A large scale restructuring began and in 1995, Planned Parenthood of Greater Kansas City and Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri merged to create Planned Parenthood of Mid-Missouri and Eastern Kansas, an organization, which three years later, joined Planned Parenthood of Kansas to form Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM). In 2016, PPKM underwent an even larger transformation, merging first with Planned Parenthood of Central Oklahoma to form Planned Parenthood Great Plains, then expanding into eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. Today, PPGP is a regional, four-state affiliate, which includes Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

THE NEW CENTURY

PPGP continues to fight to provide safe and accessible reproductive services despite an extreme anti-choice legislative landscape. Hostile legislation also prohibits PPGP from offering some age-appropriate, fact based educational materials in some public schools in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

TOWARDS THE FUTURE

Past challenges, and those we face today, have served only to solidify PPGP’s commitment to our patients and the community. We continue to reflect on the progress we have made over the last eight decades and look forward to continuing our efforts to secure a world of informed reproductive freedom.