PPSO Timeline

1965 - Planned Parenthood of Jackson County (now PPSO) forms with a 15-member Board, to provide community education. 

1966 - The Planned Parenthood Association of Lane County (now PPSO) is established. 

1969 - Planned Parenthood of Jackson County (now PPSO) becomes formally affiliated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America. 

1970 - President Richard Nixon enacts Title X Family Planning and states, “No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.” 

1972 - SCOTUS legalizes birth control for all United States citizens, despite marital status. 

1973 - SCOTUS hands down its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, recognizing the constitutional right to privacy and women's right to choose abortion. 

1976 - Congress passes the first "Hyde Amendment”, which barred the use of federal Medicaid funds for abortion, except when the pregnant person’s life is endangered by carrying the pregnancy to term. 

1981 - PPSO’s Education program hires its first dedicated staff person. The demand for PPSO education services increase by 36% over the next 5 years. 

1983 - Planned Parenthood of Jackson County (now PPSO) opens the Grants Pass Health Center.  

1984 - Planned Parenthood of Jackson County adopts “Planned Parenthood of Southern Oregon” as their new name. 

1985 - New educational programs are introduced in Lane County to middle and high school students. That year, education conducted 322 presentations, reaching 9,600 people. 

1987 - PPSO’s first sex education program began at Westmoreland Elementary School, reaching 100 students. 

1987 - PPSO rolls out Chlamydia testing services. 

1988 - PPLC (now PPSO) starts offering Paragard IUDs and Cervical Caps as contraceptive options. 

1991 - PPLC (now PPSO) receives PPFA’s 1990 National Affiliate Excellence Award for our community education program. 

1991 - PPSO developed a nationally recognized, award-winning sexuality education program, Teen Theatre Program and education materials. 

1993 - Planned Parenthood of Southern Oregon and Planned Parenthood of Lane County merge to become Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon (PPSO). 

1994 - PPSO begins offering HIV testing 

1996 - After 30 years, PPSO’s Medford Health Center begins offering services to male bodied people. 

1999 - PPSO Education department receives a second National Excellence Award for education programs. 

2000 - The “Rights, Respect, Responsibility” campaign, a sex education curriculum that meets the National Sexuality Education Standards and seeks to address both the functional knowledge related to sexuality and the specific skills necessary to adopt healthy behaviors, is launched statewide. PPSO later (2006) co-sponsors a national conference that convenes over 200 people to reframe the conversation about adolescent sexual health. 

2001 - PPSO opens the West Eugene Health Center. 

2004 - PPSO is ranked the best Planned Parenthood affiliate to work for in the nation. 

2004 - PPSO hired their first team of campus organizers at Southern Oregon University, University of Oregon and Oregon State University. 

2005 - PPSO’s (REV)olution youth development and leadership program begins.  

2005 - PPSO opens the Ashland Health Center.  

2006 - PPSO launches Sex-ed Boot Camp, a training program for youth-serving professionals that gives them the resources to have sexual health discussions with young people that are accurate, youth-centered, affirming, inclusive, and respectful. 

2007 - Emergency contraception is approved by FDA for over-the-counter sales for those 18 or older. 

2007 - The Medford Health Center moves to present-day location on South Central Street. 

2008 - PPSO is one of only three organizations to receive funding from NIRH for the Adolescent Health Care Communication Program (AHCCP), a program that pairs young people with youth-serving health care professionals to train them on how to better support and provide care to youth in a health care setting. 

2008 - HB 2700 “The Access to Birth Control” was signed into law ensuring equitable insurance coverage for contraception in Oregon and guarantees that survivors of sexual assault have access to emergency contraception in hospital emergency rooms. 

2009 - Oregon Youth Sexual Health plan, a holistic action plan to address all aspects of youth sexual health, was initiated and released. 

2009 - Oregon passes comprehensive sex education bill (HB 2509) mandating public schools provide age appropriate, medically accurate human sexuality courses as a part of health education curriculum.  

2009 – PPSO’s REV program hosts our first Reproductive Rights Retreat featuring a diverse panel of professionals who engaged them in meaningful discussion about sexual health issues. 

2010 - The Affordable Care Act is signed into law, introducing the Birth Control Mandate, expanding contraceptive coverage and preventative care with no out-of-pocket costs for more than 62 million people of reproductive age. 

2012 – PPSO opens the Regional Health and Education Center (RHEC) in Eugene. 

2015 - HB 3343 passes, making Oregon the first state in the nation to require health insurers to offer a year’s supply of the pill, the patch or the ring at the same time. 

2016 – Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon celebrated 50 Years of care!   

2016 - Planned Parenthood Federation of America celebrates 100 Years of service!  

2017 – The Reproductive Health Equity Act (HB 3391) is signed into law. The law codified Roe and the Birth Control Mandate in the Oregon Constitution and put Oregon on the map as the BEST state in the nation for reproductive health access and equity. 

2017 – Trump-Pence Administration makes extensive budget cuts to essential programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, TANF and more -- and for the first time in history singles out an individual health care provider -- Planned Parenthood. 

2018 – Access to Medication Abortion (MAB) services are expanded throughout the affiliate. 

2019 – PPSO works in coalition with progressive partners to defeat Measure 106, a backdoor ban on safe, legal abortion that would have taken healthcare coverage away from 350,000 low-income Oregonians. 

2019 – PPSO’s very own Title X providers, Dr. Tom Ewing and Michele Megregian, sign on as lead plaintiffs versus the Trump Administration to stand tall against the unconstitutional Gag Rule.  

2019 – PPSO bridges a 300+ mile abortion desert by implementing surgical abortion services at the Ashland Health Center   

2020 – PPSO launches telehealth and virtual education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; Enabling more people, in more places than ever before to access sexual reproductive healthcare and education.  

2020 - PPSO holds first ever Virtual Sex Ed Boot Camp (SEBC), providing 40 professionals from across the country with new skills and tools to better serve the young people in their lives. 

2020 – In Trump v. Pennsylvania SCOTUS rules that organizations can deny birth control coverage if they have moral or religious objections. 

2020 - 21 (REV)olution Youth volunteered 1,224 hours, trained 80 nursing students to better serve young people. 

2021 – PPSO launches Gender Affirming Care (GAC) at the affiliate to better serve and provide care for trans and non-binary patients. 

2021 – SCOTUS rules to reinstate restrictions on MAB services, creating more barriers to abortion access by requiring individuals seeking medication abortions to obtain the pills in-person from a medical provider, despite the pandemic. 

2021 – PPSO celebrates 55 years of providing service in your community and building the future of care with you! 

Our 55th anniversary is an incredible opportunity to reflect on the past, celebrate in the present, and boldly articulate the world we want to create in the future. 

For 55 years, PPSO has been dedicated to centering the needs of our community by providing the essential health care services, education, and advocacy they know, deserve, and trust.  

Using our past as a guide towards a better future, we will build on our legacy to launch our next 55 years with as much passion and courage as our founding.  

We will continue to expand our health and education services, launch new programs and initiatives, and work at the local, state, and federal levels of government to advance reproductive rights for individuals and families in Oregon – and beyond. 

Our vision is a world in which all children are wanted and cared for, all people have equal rights and dignity, sexuality is expressed with honesty, equality, and responsibility, and the decision to have children is private and voluntary. 

We will stand with you to ensure access to health care and rights is a reality for everyone – No Matter What. 

We’ve been here for 55 years, and thanks to YOU, we will be here for 55 more! 

As a partner in this work, we would love to hear what you envision for the future of PPSO. 

Please visit PPSO Vision to let us know what your goals, hopes, and dreams are for the future of PPSO.   

Thank you for celebrating Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon!