Current:Home > FinancePlanned Parenthood Oregon leaders plan to dissolve political arm, sparking concerns about advocacy -Achieve Wealth Network
Planned Parenthood Oregon leaders plan to dissolve political arm, sparking concerns about advocacy
View
Date:2025-04-18 03:12:41
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The new leaders of Oregon’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates want to dissolve the political arm of their organization to focus more on providing health care, a move that has sparked inner turmoil and opposition from advocates concerned about the future of reproductive rights in a pivotal election year.
Sara Kennedy, the new head of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, and Amy Handler, who oversees Planned Parenthood Southwestern Oregon, sent a letter last week to Planned Parenthood Advocacy of Oregon, the lobbying group that engages in political campaigns on the affiliates’ behalf, saying they planned to dissolve it, OPB reported.
In their letter, they said they wanted to focus more on “health care and advocating for the needs of the Planned Parenthood affiliates and their patients.”
“We are not dissolving our commitment to advocacy in Oregon,” they wrote. “Instead, we want to realign Planned Parenthood’s advocacy with our critical mission of delivering quality, equitable, and accessible sexual and reproductive health care.”
The affiliates also plan to focus more on reimbursement rates for providers to help them keep their doors open, spokesperson Kristi Scdoris said.
Oregon’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates provide reproductive health care, including abortion access. They don’t engage in political lobbying or campaigns, but they do fund the full budget, apart from grants, of the political advocacy arm, sending it over $700,000 every year, according to Scdoris.
Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, which operates clinics in the Portland metro area and elsewhere in the state, earns about $36 million in annual revenue, with total expenses around $31 million, according to its 2022-23 financial impact report.
OPB reported that board members of Planned Parenthood Advocacy of Oregon, the advocacy arm, responded in their own letter, saying they’re concerned about being unable to meaningfully impact political campaigns in a major election year.
“And now, at what is potentially the most critical time for abortion rights that this country has ever seen, this short-sighted plan to force dissolution over a matter of days would leave Oregon, formerly a national leader in this space, with zero abortion rights advocacy organizations,” they wrote.
The letter mentions the group’s role in advocating for the passage of a 2017 state law that codified the right to have an abortion, and its work opposing a 2018 ballot measure that would have prohibited public funds from being spent on abortions in many cases, according to OPB.
Oregon’s U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle said she signed on to a letter along with 100 other people urging the two leaders to reconsider, OPB reported.
“Why the leadership of the two Planned Parenthood health care clinics decided to eliminate the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood in Oregon without any process, any partnership or any transparency five months before the most consequential election of our lifetime when reproductive health care is on the ballot is baffling to me,” Hoyle said.
OPB reported that neither Kennedy nor Handler returned its calls for comment.
veryGood! (35968)
Related
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- Freddie Mercury memorabilia on display ahead of auction – including scribbled song lyrics expected to fetch more than $1 million
- Today’s Climate: May 15-16, 2010
- Trump EPA Science Advisers Push Doubt About Air Pollution Health Risks
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Fumes from Petroleum Tanks in this City Never Seem to Go Away. What Are the Kids Here Breathing?
- Long COVID and the labor market
- Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals How Chris Martin Compares to Her Other Exes
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Costs of Climate Change: Early Estimate for Hurricanes, Fires Reaches $300 Billion
Ranking
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Judges Question EPA’s Lifting of Ban on Climate Super Pollutant HFCs
- Taro Takahashi
- Why you should stop complimenting people for being 'resilient'
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- Stacey Abrams is behind in the polls and looking to abortion rights to help her win
- Today’s Climate: May 20, 2010
- Woman facing charges for allegedly leaving kids in car that caught fire while she was shoplifting
Recommendation
Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
FDA expected to authorize new omicron-specific COVID boosters this week
What's behind the FDA's controversial strategy for evaluating new COVID boosters
Clifton Garvin
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
How realistic are the post-Roe abortion workarounds that are filling social media?
Why keeping girls in school is a good strategy to cope with climate change
See Kylie Jenner and Stormi Webster’s Sweet Matching Moment at New York Fashion Party