Planned Parenthood celebrates 30 years in C.R.

By Joe Lock

Ninety-five percent of all American women use contraception at some point in their lifetime. Since 1980, Planned Parenthood in Cedar Rapids has provided affordable, accessible family planning in sync with its mission: to provide health care services, education and advocacy that ensure the right and ability of all individuals to manage their sexual and reproductive health.

Thirty years ago, Planned Parenthood in Cedar Rapids was chartered as an affiliate of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. A generous grant of $100,000 from the Hall Foundation enabled the non-profit organization to open a clinic in Cedar Rapids. Local physicians served the initial patients, and 292 women accessed full contraceptive service in the first year.

By 1990, Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa tripled in size to serve five counties: Linn, Jones, Jackson, Dubuque and Delaware. In 2008, our Dubuque Health Center opened, and Planned Parenthood now serves thousands of women and men each year.

Cancer prevention has been a Planned Parenthood priority. Our annual Free Pap Day started in 1993 to provide free cervical cancer screening to uninsured and underinsured women.

But we have a lot more work to do.

According to the Iowa Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancy, over half of all pregnancies in Iowa for women 18 to 30 are unintended. Iowa also ranks 48th nationally in access to family planning.

Additionally, research shows that women who have unintended pregnancies are more likely to live in poverty, less likely to finish high school or attend college and more likely to engage in risky behavior that threatens their health and the health of their baby.

Planned Parenthood gives women and men free access to education and prevention. Our professional education staff reaches thousands of teens and adults annually, providing comprehensive, science-based, age-appropriate sexuality education. We work hard to find solutions for those who are uninsured or cannot afford medical care.

Many Americans were shocked in 2008 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) held its biennial conference on sexually transmitted diseases, announcing that at least one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease. The CDC estimates that nearly 19 million new cases of STDs occur each year, and that by the age of 25, half of sexually active young people will contract an STD. Chlamydia and gonorrhea, the two most commonly reported infectious diseases in the United States, are also among the most serious and preventable threats to women's fertility. Both rates and consequences of Chlamydia and gonorrhea are far more severe among women than men. Testing, prevention and education are paramount in reducing this staggering statistic.

Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa serves as the area's leading authority in reproductive health care and sexuality education. I invite you to join us in celebrating our 30th anniversary and learning more about Planned Parenthood.

Joe Lock is president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa, headquartered in Cedar Rapids. Information, comments: www.plannedparenthood.org/ppeci/