Letter: Planned Parenthood gives judgment-free care that clinics can't provide

Editor,

In a recent letter, Students for Life president Sade Patterson urged us to imagine if our government “redirected the $500 [m]illion Planned Parenthood receives a year” toward 165 other community health centers in New Mexico. I, like Ms. Patterson, care deeply about women, but I know defunding Planned Parenthood would result in the loss of vital services that women, men and people of all ages have come to depend on.

Planned Parenthood’s six clinics in New Mexico provide healthcare to 21,000 people a year. The federal funding that Planned Parenthood receives is from reimbursements through Medicaid and Title X. It is already incredibly difficult to find a doctor that accepts Medicaid and is also offering appointments to new patients. In fact, only 42 percent of primary providers who accept Medicaid even offer appointments.

Community health clinics are already struggling to see the patients they currently serve. While they do offer preventative reproductive care to low-income patients, their patient load is so high that even current patients sometimes wait weeks to see a doctor. Imagine adding the 21,000 Planned Parenthood patients in New Mexico to that waitlist.

Also, even though some community health clinics offer the same types of reproductive services, they cannot offer the safe and judgment-free environment that Planned Parenthood does. Planned Parenthood cares about the multiple identities, backgrounds and multi-dimensional experiences of all people.

One thing Ms. Patterson and I can agree on is this: Planned Parenthood does not perform mammograms. Health care providers at Planned Parenthood, like providers at health centers across the country, send women to a mammography center to get screening and specialty care. Providers at Planned Parenthood or a health clinic then continue to work with their clients if anything abnormal shows up in the screening.

It would be a huge mistake to take away funding from Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is an essential health care provider in our community that cannot be replaced. We may not all have the same beliefs about abortion, but we owe it to all members of our community to ensure that they continue to have access to the healthcare center of their choosing. We cannot let misinformation keep people in our communities away from the care they need.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Montoya

Member of the Student Alliance for Reproductive Justice