We share the belief that you
can’t truly be free until you have control over your own body,
your health, and your future. That’s why we’re in this fight. Alexis McGill Johnson, President & CEO Planned Parenthood Federation of America
2020 SUMMER
HORIZONS
Planned Parenthoo
A Publication of Planned Parenthood South Texas
Planned Parenthood South Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
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A message from Alexis McGill Johnson
4
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Providing care during COVID-19
Merritt Clements, Vice Chair
6
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Expanding telemedicine
Brian Steward, Secretary
7
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COVID in the Rio Grande Valley
Brooke Benson
8
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Fighting for abortion care
2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Elise Ring Boyan, Chair
Catherine Payer, Treasurer
Kathy Armstrong, Immediate Past Chair Laurie Greenberg, MD
10
| S upreme Court roundup: Abortion rights,
Fernando Martinez, PhD
13
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In pride and protest
Liz McFarland
Don McRee, PhD
14
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Volunteers jump in & Census outreach
Mayra Mendoza
15
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Growth and tough decisions
16
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Heroic philanthropy
17
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Upcoming and ongoing ways to give
Alison Kennamer
DACA, LGBTQ rights, and birth control
Ellen Lake
Mina Lรณpez
Patricia Morales Daniel Walker
STAFF LEADERSHIP Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO Polin C. Barraza, RN, Senior Vice President & COO Angela Koester, Vice President for Community Engagement
Thank you to our generous funders The work of Planned Parenthood South Texas is made possible by support from you and from institutional partners, including:
MISSION STATEMENT We provide and protect the
health care and information people need to plan their families and their futures.
A grant from the Beulah M. and Felix J. Katz Memorial Trust and John L. Santikos Charitable Foundation of the San Antonio Area Foundation A grant from the COVID-19 Response Fund, a community fund jointly managed by the San Antonio Area Foundation and the United Way of San Antonio.
www.ppsouthtexas.org | 800-230-7526
Forward For this edition, it’s my pleasure to turn this space over to my colleague Alexis McGill Johnson, who was appointed as President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in June after serving as Acting President and CEO for the last year. Alexis is a renowned social and racial justice leader, lifelong political and cultural organizer, and a tireless advocate for reproductive rights and access to quality, affordable health care. —Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO
About Alexis:
Alexis has been in the leadership of both Planned Parenthood Federation of American and Planned Parenthood Action Fund for more than a decade: as a former PPFA board chair, former Planned Parenthood Action Fund board member, and former Planned Parenthood Federal PAC chair. Alexis brings a researcher’s lens to the justice issues of our time. Alexis holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a graduate degree from Yale in political science, and has taught political science and African American studies at Yale and Wesleyan universities. She is the co-founder and
former co-director of the Perception Institute, a consortium of researchers, advocates, and strategists who translate cutting edge mind science research on race, gender, ethnic, and other identities into solutions that reduce bias and discrimination, and promote belonging. She currently serves on the board of Color of Change, Revolutions Per Minute, and Narrative Initiative. She is a founder of the Culture Group as well as a frequent commentator on FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, and other media outlets. During the 2004 election cycle, she served as Executive Director of Citizen Change.
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A Note From Alexis
Planned Parenthood was founded on the belief that our bodies are our own. Without that simple premise, we can never be truly free. Today, Planned Parenthood health centers in South Texas and across the country live by that belief by providing birth control, STD testing and treatment, affirming identity care, and safe, legal abortion — literally providing the tools for imagining freedom. But imagining freedom doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Right now, our country faces a long-overdue reckoning from many who have been denied. Folks are marching in the streets of San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley, demanding accountability and justice — 100-degree heat be damned. COVID-19 is exposing disparities in our health care system that disproportionately affect Black and Latinx people, Indigenous people, and other people of color. And at the border, agents of the state continue to separate families. Through it all, we’re seeing the very idea of freedom being criminalized. Access to abortion, criminalized. The right to jog in your neighborhood, criminalized. The search for a better life, criminalized. Fighting for a gentler world for the next generation, criminalized. In all of the protests we are seeing across the country, from racial discrimination to abortion rights to Pride to immigration — we are seeing intersectionality being operationalized. Young protestors leading these movements are often queer people of color who understand that their identities and circumstances related to gender, race, sexual orientation, and income status are inextricably linked in messy, overlapping, and sometimes hierarchical ways.
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If anyone understands intersectionality, it’s Gen Z. They are unapologetic, and they’re the wokest, queerest, brownest, most inclusive generation we’ve ever seen. I recently read a quote from a young activist who said this about the fight for reproductive rights: “Right now, in a lot of social justice movements we’re seeing language about the future. I hear ‘protect Roe v. Wade,’ and it feels like there needs to be another clause about the future we’re going to build.” That stuck with me. In the midst of it all, Planned Parenthood patients are living at these same intersections, but they are also dreaming of their futures. They might be undocumented. They might be grappling with issues related to their LGBTQ+ identity, or they might have low incomes. They might leave a health center, only to be pulled over by a police officer, for no reason but the color of their skin. They could experience any combination of these injustices on a daily basis, but they are still fighting for their freedoms and their futures. They know to live fully intersectional lives requires systemic change. They understand what Kimberlé Crenshaw, the lawyer and theorist who coined the term “intersectionality” recently said: “Intersectionality is not additive. It’s fundamentally reconstitutive...” They understand that the foundation of this country was built crooked. They understand they are living through what abolitionist and scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore calls “organized abandonment,” the systematic withholding of opportunity and support from marginalized communities. Systems are only as strong as our willingness to defend them. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a paradigm shift, and has blown up our definition of what’s normal, or even possible. Now we have the opportunity to rewrite the future not just of reproductive rights, but of the structure of autonomy and freedom as we know it. To provide meaningful care, we must use our platform to center and amplify patients’ voices, and commit to confronting the intersectional challenges they face. We need to tear down the silos that keep movements apart, and recognize that our collective liberation is bound up together. It’s time to walk it like we talk it. The protesters in the streets are building our futures, in their unabashed demands, the miles they’ve marched, and their cross-movement solidarity. In South Texas, you’re building our future too, as you innovate to meet new health care challenges and empower your patients, regardless of who they are or where they come from. And through the simple act of walking through the doors of a Planned Parenthood health center, your patients are building our future. Because in a country that has told people time and again that their bodies are not their own, going to Planned Parenthood isn’t just an act of strength and empowerment — it’s the ultimate act of protest. As we work to imagine a better world, remember: there’s no one way to fight for freedom — all that is required is that we do. Let’s make what we once thought was impossible, inevitable. Alexis McGill Johnson speaks to abortion rights supporters at a rally at the U.S. Supreme Court during the hearing of oral arguments in June Medical Services v. Russo on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Eric Kayne/Center for Reproductive Rights)
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Healthcare happens here. Even now.
Care during COVID Our doors stay open
When the threat of the new coronavirus became a reality in Texas and businesses began closing their doors, Planned Parenthood South Texas had one goal: Continue providing health care while keeping our patients and our staff safe. Because we provide essential services to the community, our health centers were permitted to stay open during the stay-at-home orders issued in March in Bexar and Cameron counties. The need for affordable, high-quality health care doesn’t stop during a pandemic, and neither do we. We are working to ensure that women, couples and families who have already lost so much due to COVID-19 don’t also lose control of their reproductive destiny. Even in the best of times, people’s ability to control whether and when they get pregnant is fundamental. It’s all the more imperative now, during growing economic insecurity and fear.
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The current pandemic is reinforcing PPST’s role as a safety net provider in the communities we serve. The COVID-19 crisis has heightened the economic pressures already present in the lives of our patients. And while no one knows how long the economic impact of the pandemic will last, we do know a growing number of people may be without insurance or resources due to COVID-related job losses. We will be here for them. Keeping our staff and patients safe PPST’s Senior Clinical Leadership Team took immediate action to protect patients and staff from COVID-19 based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and local health departments. PPST trained all staff and front desk volunteers regarding screening, prevention and disinfection, and reinforced training on personal protective equipment (PPE). We posted signage to inform patients of social distancing, prevention, disinfection, and how to assess for COVID-19 symptoms.
In addition to requiring all staff and patients to wear face masks at all times, we implemented other precautions: • Waiting areas have been reconfigured to promote social distancing, and no more than 25% of capacity can be used at any time. (Patients can check in online and wait in their cars to be seen.) • Only patients are allowed to visit health centers; patients cannot bring a support person unless the patient is a minor or there are other special circumstances. • Patients who have certain symptoms associated with COVID-19, such as a fever of more than 100.4 or a cough, must be assessed over the phone by clinic staff to determine whether they can be seen. • Front-desk staff perform temperature checks on patients and staff. To further limit the spread of the virus, during the stay-at-home orders, we postponed non-essential services such as well-woman exams and “peace of mind” testing for sexually transmitted disease. We also paused insertion of long-acting reversible contraceptives (intrauterine devices and hormonal implants) though we continued to provide other forms of contraception. An executive order by the governor forced us to pause abortion care. (See page 8 for more information on abortion care during COVID). We have since resumed all services.
Outside our health centers, we cancelled or postponed all in-person events in the community, as well as all in-person volunteer activities except for frontdesk duty and safety aides. We were forced to cancel our Annual Luncheon, scheduled for May 8, with Patricia Arquette. In the Rio Grande Valley, promotoras with our Habla Con Tu Hermana program have since resumed a limited number of in-person community presentations so they can distribute vouchers for free health care to the most vulnerable women. Simultaneously, they are working to expand their outreach and provide education about sexual and reproductive health by video. As the virus continues to spread, PPST remains committed to following the latest recommendations from public health authorities so we can deliver on our mission — no matter what.
“ Deferred care and pent-up demand has returned to our clinics. If there was any question as to whether family planning and sexual health care are essential, the answer is a resounding YES.” —Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO
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“The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated our telemedicine plans. It will dramatically improve our reach into underserved communities.” —Valerie Mascorro, Director of Quality
Care from a distance
One of the ways PPST has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to expand telemedicine services using state-of-the-art technology.
For more than a year, patients around Texas have been able to use PPDirect, a mobile app, to access birth control and request a prescription for UTI treatment using their smartphone or other device. When the pandemic hit, though, PPST decided to expand the types of care available remotely so we can meet patients where they are. We received a grant of $50,000 from the San Antonio Area Foundation COVID-19 Response Fund to help launch our telemedicine services. The new platform allows providers to speak directly with patients by video in real time; patients can also upload photos and communicate with providers at their convenience. This new service, scheduled to launch in August, will allow us to care for patients who cannot or do not want to leave home to visit our health centers during the pandemic. But when the pandemic is over, telemedicine will remain. We expect it to become a common method of delivering care in the future, helping us serve patients who have challenges such as childcare or transportation issues that make it difficult for them to visit us in person. It can also expand our reach into rural pockets of South Texas that are medically underserved. If possible, PPST would offer medication abortion (two pills placed in a woman’s hand, which today accounts for 74% of all abortions we provide) by telemedicine as is legal and underway in many other states. Unfortunately, Texas’s overregulation of abortion prohibits this — one of many unnecessary restrictions that makes abortion care harder for people to access. For 81 years, PPST has been what our patients need us to be. We serve patients with compassion and skill, whether it’s in person with face coverings or by video screen. We will continue to adapt to emerging circumstances in order to deliver care. 6 | 2020 Summer HORIZONS
A view from the Valley We’ve read the reports and seen the numbers that tell us COVID-19 is ravaging our country. The Rio Grande Valley is one of the hardest hit areas in Texas, and living in Brownsville has made it clear that there are many factors contributing to the crisis that people living outside the Valley may not realize. More than a quarter of Cameron County’s estimated 425,000 residents live in poverty. During the pandemic, unemployment rates here have risen drastically. Losing a job is alarming for anyone, but especially for those with financial foundations that are already precarious. Add in a pandemic and issues such as a severe lack of testing kits and sites, food insecurity, lack of access to health care, multigenerational family homes, a large immigrant community harassed by the ever-present Customs and Border Protection agents policing our streets, and the situation becomes dire.
Many families depend on the food their children receive at school and at district- or city-sponsored spring and summer camps. With schools closed, food insecurity has become an urgent issue. The need is too much for Brownsville’s permanent food pantry, Good Neighbor Settlement House. Since May, a handful of local organizations have coordinated separate weekly mass food distributions. I have been privileged to help with these events, along with PPST promotoras. Unfortunately, some families have gone without, because the need is greater than the amount of available resources. While cities such as New York were hit hard early in the pandemic, the number of positive cases remained low in the Valley, with some cities reporting zero fatalities. But within weeks of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reopening of the state in May, the number of positive cases skyrocketed, and with it the number of deaths. Since then, it has been nearly impossible to control the surge of cases in the Valley. Lack of access to health care and the prevalence of households made up of multi-generational
families has exacerbated the problem. Cookouts, prayer groups, Pachangas, beach trips, community gardens, and Loteria are part of our culture. If one of us is sick, many become sick before anyone notices something is wrong. And without health insurance or money to cover medical costs, many people must choose between accessing health care or paying for groceries and the monthly electric bill. Fear of deportation or harassment compounds the problem exponentially. Our immigrant community is strong and adds to the wonderful culture unique to the Valley. Sadly, immigrants are among the hardest hit during the pandemic. Immigrant families are under constant threat of separation, making them scared to seek health care. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) patrol by bike, car, and boat in Brownsville. It is nearly impossible to leave your home and not see them. In the hour that I waited in line for a COVID-19 test, I saw seven different CBP vehicles pass through this northern part of Brownsville. In the southernmost communities, the patrolling is even more prevalent. I see these issues. There are others I do not see, and challenges I will never experience. I can safely wait for my COVID test in my parked car without fear, while CBP slowly drive by and smugly inspect the interior. I can do that because a little over fifty years ago, my abuelita traveled with my father to the United States from Guatemala to escape civil unrest and strive for a better life for her progeny. I can do that because my father was successful in creating the life his mother dreamed. My father — carrying the memories of the trauma he endured and family he left behind — worked tirelessly to create the life he has. However, he is little different from the many seeking the same dream. It is by sheer luck that some of us live privileged lives. My hope is that we all open our eyes to the plight of others and work together to carry life’s burdens. — Stephanie Dominguez Community Engagement Manager
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Abortion care in the time of COVID:
Fighting for our patients Imagine what it must be like to be a woman who has just been told that, in the midst of everything else she’s going through, everything else she may have lost or may fear losing in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has now also lost control over her reproductive future.
That’s exactly what happened to hundreds of Texas women in March, when Republican state officials took advantage of the pandemic to ban nearly all abortions in Texas. On March 22, Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order postponing “all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately, medically necessary” in order to preserve personal protective equipment (PPE) and hospital capacity needed to cope with the COVID-19 disaster. The next day, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a press release stating that abortion procedures would also need to be postponed. There was and is no merit in this argument. Abortion care is essential health care if a woman chooses to end her pregnancy. Abortion care uses very little PPE—especially medication abortion, which makes up 74% of the abortions PPST provides. Medication abortion is not a “procedure” at all and involves a physician handing a pill to a patient. Further, abortion care provided at PPST does not deprive any hospital of capacity to care for their patients. Although it wasn’t a surprise that anti-abortion lawmakers would use any excuse to advance their political agenda, denying women their
“ ...we fought the governor’s smoke-and-mirrors rationale for banning all abortion care...” —Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO
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constitutional right to abortion during a global pandemic is particularly cruel. Abortion providers in Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, and Oklahoma faced similar restrictions. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and numerous other reproductive health groups issued a statement opposing the delay or cancellation of abortion procedures because of the coronavirus outbreak, describing abortion as a “timesensitive service for which a delay of several weeks, or in some cases days, may increase the risks or potentially make it completely inaccessible. The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being.” In Texas, abortion is banned after 20 weeks gestation (22 weeks after the last menstrual period). The impact of the executive order on our patients was immediate and devastating. Patients called PPST health centers daily, asking when they might be able to access this essential health care. Distraught, they pleaded with clinic staff, asking, “What am I supposed to do?” At least two women told us they would have no other option but to continue their pregnancies. Those with resources traveled to other states to have an abortion, flying or making long drives during a time when travel was discouraged because of the pandemic. Planned Parenthood clinics in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada saw 129 patients from Texas between March 23 and April 14, compared with 16 Texas patients during the entire month of February, a 706% increase. The many stories that filtered back to us were heartbreaking, such as the Texas woman who had to drive to Colorado with her child and her elderly mother with dementia. Meanwhile, we were fighting for our patients in court, a legal battle that took many twists and turns over the next few weeks.
Timeline of legal actions
• M arch 25: A group of Texas abortion providers — represented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Lawyering Project — sued Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials to help ensure that patients could access essential, time-sensitive abortion services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• M arch 30: A federal district judge granted Texas abortion providers a temporary restraining order to allow abortion services to continue for the time being. • M arch 31: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit paused the temporary restraining order while reviewing the district court’s order — resulting in severely restricted abortion access in Texas. This stay order was granted before abortion providers could make their case to the court. •A pril 7: In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit used a rare procedural mechanism to rule that the district court was wrong to grant emergency relief to protect access to abortion care. This allowed Texas to continue using Abbott’s order to block abortion access. •A pril 9: A federal district court granted a second temporary restraining order against Abbott’s order. This decision allowed abortion providers to resume medication abortion as well as abortion procedures for patients who would be unable to access abortion due to their gestational age. •A pril 10: The Fifth Circuit again ruled against abortion providers, this time granting an administrative stay reversing in large part the federal district court’s latest temporary restraining order (granted on April 9), which means abortion was once again largely inaccessible in the state of Texas. •A pril 11: Abortion providers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take emergency action and restore access to medication abortion. •A pril 13: The Fifth Circuit asked abortion providers to further explain why medication abortion is not considered a “procedure.” The Fifth Circuit then backed down from its stay of the temporary restraining order as it applied to medication abortion. Abortion providers withdrew our request to the Supreme Court. Once the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals backed down, Planned Parenthood immediately resumed all abortion care in Texas. Abbott’s order then expired on April 21. Patients were once again able to access the abortion care they needed. With COVID-19 cases spiking again in Texas, though, PPST is concerned that Abbott and Paxton will again try to pass an unconstitutional ban on abortion care. “As people try and navigate their new realities under a pandemic — job loss, quarantining with abusive partners, or still having to work essential jobs — we need more abortion access, not less. This fight is far from over.” ~ Alexis McGill Johnson, president & CEO, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, April 14, 2020
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U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, struck down Louisiana’s medically unnecessary abortion restriction in June Medical Services v. Russo, a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of several independent abortion providers. The law required abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, and if upheld, would have decimated access to abortion in Louisiana. The Court also rejected Louisiana’s argument that abortion providers do not have legal standing to challenge restrictions on behalf of patients. For years — and for various reasons — abortion providers have brought forward lawsuits on behalf of their patients. Ending the essential role of physicians to advocate for patients’ rights would have had a chilling effect for abortion cases moving forward. While we celebrate the June Medical Services victory, there remain grave concerns about the shrinking of abortion rights in this country. This case should never have made it to the Supreme Court. The Louisiana restriction was identical to a Texas restriction the Court struck down four years ago in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Despite this, the Supreme Court announced in late 2019 that it would hear the Louisiana case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the law. The difference between 2016 and 2020? The High Court now has two Trump-appointed members, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brent Kavanaugh, who did not take part in the 5-3 decision striking down the Texas law. And despite the 2016 Supreme Court ruling, four of the justices — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh — voted to ignore precedent and uphold the Louisiana law. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in favor of the Texas law in 2016, sided with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan to strike down the Louisiana law. However, he made it very clear that his decision was based
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only out of respect for precedent established by the 2016 ruling. In a separate opinion from the majority opinion, Roberts said the 2016 ruling was wrongly decided. The message from the Court is clear: a majority of the High Court is willing to uphold medically unnecessary abortion restrictions that would further erode access to this essential health care. Even amidst the public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, politicians at the state and federal levels are fighting to restrict access to reproductive health care. There are currently 16 other abortion cases one step away from the Supreme Court. Despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, Roe v. Wade remains under serious threat. While it’s true that abortion is still legal in every state in America, for too many people, abortion remains a right on paper only. Access to abortion care is still often restricted by where you live, how much money you have, and (due to systemic racism and institutionalized barriers) the color of your skin. Our fight is far from over. We will not back down and we will not let politicians interfere with our ability to control our own bodies, lives, and futures. We will be here fighting every step of the way, until access to basic health care — including abortion — is both a right, and available to everyone, regardless of their race, income, location, or gender identity.
“ As in Whole Woman’s Health, the substantial obstacle the Act imposes, and the absence of any health-related benefit, led the District Court to conclude that the law imposes an undue burden and is therefore unconstitutional.” — Opinion of Justice Stephen Breyer in June Medical Services v. Russo What are TRAP Laws? Over the last decade, opponents of safe and legal abortion have been pushing for health care restrictions that target abortion providers as part of a national strategy to restrict access to abortion. These Targeted Restrictions of Abortion Providers, or “TRAP” laws, can include both facility and staffing requirements. One type of TRAP law requires physicians who provide abortion to obtain local hospital admitting privileges, which can be difficult in politically hostile states. Another law requires abortion providers to comply with onerous and medically unnecessary building requirements for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). These types of laws, which apply only to abortion providers, create requirements for providers that
have no medical basis, provide no benefit to women, and are politically motivated to restrict safe access to abortion. While such laws have been passed under the guise of protecting women’s health, they can have the effect of restricting access to health care and can ultimately jeopardize women’s health. That’s why medical experts like the American Medical Association and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists oppose TRAP laws. As the Supreme Court has recognized, hospital admitting privileges and ASC requirements for abortion providers can pose an unconstitutional burden on a woman’s right to access abortion. These restrictions do not make people safer and when challenged, they have been consistently struck down.
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...other SCOTUS cases The decision in Louisiana’s abortion access case wasn’t the only U.S. Supreme Court decision from this most recent term that had far-reaching implications for our patients and the communities we serve. Here are some of the others, along with what the court got right and what the court got very wrong.
IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
In June, the Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA). The issue: This Obama-Administration program deferred deportation proceedings for two years for qualified people brought to the U.S. as children. Known as DREAMers, these young people received temporary legal status and work authorization, and this status was renewable. Shortly after taking office, Trump moved to revoke the program. The ruling: The Court ruled against the Trump administration in a 5-4 vote, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the opinion. What it means: The landmark victory protects at least 700,000 young DREAMers from deportation. Unfortunately, the Trump administration still has authority to try to rescind DACA again, as this ruling held only that the way in which the administration tried to dismantle DACA was arbitrary and capricious. Immigrant rights advocates are expecting the Trump administration to continue their attacks against DACA.
BIRTH CONTROL COVERAGE
In July, the Supreme Court upheld two Trump administration rules that allow employers and universities to push their religious or moral (or immoral depending on your viewpoint!) beliefs on employees and students by denying them access to birth control covered by insurance. The issue: Can employers and universities deny their employees and students coverage for birth control based on a religious or moral objection? The ruling: The vote was 7–2, with Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. What it means: An employer or university whose leadership has moral objections to the use of birth control can exclude birth control coverage from group health insurance, leaving employees and students with dramatically increased out-of-pocket expenses. Birth control is basic health care. This decision is wrong. These rules are an attack on our fundamental right to control our own bodies, and as such, they limit our freedom. Despite the frustrating and disappointing ruling, Planned Parenthood South Texas is still doing everything we can to provide access to affordable and effective birth control. We’re fighting for a world where everyone can control their own bodies and make decisions for themselves, no matter who they work for, where they go to school, how much money they make, or the color of their skin. 12 | 2020 Summer HORIZONS
LGBTQ+ RIGHTS
In a historic decision in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination based on sex. The issue: Are employers free to fire employees because they are LGBTQ+? A set of cases before the court tested whether the federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment applies to LGBTQ+ employees. The ruling: The Court sided with LGBTQ+ employees in a 6-3 vote, with Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s first appointee to the Court, writing the majority opinion. What it means: This landmark victory protects LGBTQ+ workers from being fired for who they are or who they love. Planned Parenthood is proud to stand with the LGBTQ+ community and to provide a safe and welcoming place to get health care and information, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
In pride and protest A pandemic might have forced the cancellation of in-person Pride events in June, but nothing can stop the movement of the LGBTQ+ community in South Texas or around the country. Despite a Supreme Court victory in June, the movement continues to face relentless attacks from the Trump administration, which in May scaled back Obama-era protections for transgender people. Pride isn’t just about parties and parades. Pride was born out of resistance and protest. In 1969, the Stonewall Uprising—led by transgender women of color—sparked the modern LGBTQ+ movement. A half-century later, Pride month honors the resilience
and activism of LGBTQ+ people who face continued discrimination.
This year, Pride month coincided with communities across the country protesting America’s systemic racism, oppression, and violence. Now it’s more People display their important than ever for pride in many ways, Planned Parenthood to including through flags. demand justice for Black There are more than a LGBTQ+ people, who are dozen different flags that disproportionately victims represent the LGBTQ+ of violence and murder. We stand with Black LGBTQ+ community. In June, Planned Parenthood South patients, supporters, and staff, and we reaffirm Texas partnered with PRIDE Center San Antonio Planned Parenthood’s commitment to provide to share what some of safe and compassionate these flags mean. See the sexual and reproductive video at ppsouthtexas.org. health care and education.
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Volunteers jump in At Planned Parenthood South Texas, volunteers play a crucial role in carrying out our mission, even during a pandemic.
When PPST volunteers learned that wearing cloth masks could help curtail the spread of COVID-19, they got right to work. Using colorful fabric, volunteers made hundreds of masks for PPST staff. The masks help keep both staff and patients safe from the virus. To show appreciation for clinic staff’s hard work during this difficult time, volunteers also wrote personal thank-you letters to each clinic staff member and recorded heartfelt messages of support on video. Through all of this, our volunteers continue to welcome patients and execute COVID-19
safety protocol at our Babcock Road health center in San Antonio. Volunteers also serve as safety aides for patients who arrive at health centers for abortion care, helping to shield patients from the worst of the protestors’ verbal harassment. Volunteers also help carry forward our public affairs agenda and amplify the collective voice we use to advocate for our patients. In June, several volunteers testified before the State Board of Education about the need for comprehensive sex education in Texas public schools.
If you are interested in volunteering with PPST, please email volunteers@ppsouthtexas.org or call 210-736-2244, ext. 310.
Everyone counts
An accurate count of South Texas during the 2020 Census is critical for San Antonio, Brownsville, and Harlingen to get their share of federal dollars and ensure fair congressional representation. Texas is at high risk of an undercount because of a higher percentage of hard-to-count populations, including people with low-income and immigrant families. The Texas Demographic Center estimates that even a 1% undercount could cost Texas $300 million in federal funding a year for the next 10 years. Both PPST Community Engagement staff and volunteers have been working to encourage our communities to complete their census forms. In early 2020, volunteers kicked-off a Health Center Advocacy Program with the 2020 Census as the first campaign. They engaged with visitors at our health centers, educated them on the importance and impact of the Census, and had them sign a pledge to be counted. When cities shifted into stay-at-home mode, we moved Census promotion work to virtual and digital platforms, including social media. Nine volunteers participated in text banking to encourage Census participation, reaching 450 people. We also secured a Latino Community Investment Grant to partner with the nonprofit La Unión Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) in the Rio Grande Valley. LUPE has implemented a large Census promotion project to ensure residents of colonias on the border are counted. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau has pushed the Census deadline to September 30 to allow people more time to respond. Bexar and Cameron counties both have response rates lower than the national rate, so we will continue to work to get everyone counted. Don’t forget to fill out your Census form at 2020Census.gov by September 30! 14 | 2020 Summer HORIZONS
Growth and tough decisions The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged Planned Parenthood South Texas operations and our patients. In late March and April, service delivery in our clinics declined dramatically. It was impossible to predict what would happen next. Simultaneously we fought Gov. Greg Abbott’s smoke-and-mirrors rationale for banning all abortion care (see page 8).
that we are living in a pandemic. Two large capital projects were planned for 2020— New Marbach and New Southeast.
New Southeast: After nearly two decades, we are moving our Southeast health center from 2346 East Southcross Road in San Antonio. When we established this clinic, the location was a good one, but the last decade has seen huge growth After the local stay-at-home orders expired, and change on the city’s South Side. Relocation closer to Brooks City Base deferred care and pent-up demand will be a great benefit to returned to our clinics. If current and future patients. there was any question as The new space will be to whether family planning a rental, helping us to and sexual health care are essential, the answer is a “Our patients are at the maintain flexibility and resources during these resounding YES. There will center of everything unpredictable times, but it be successes and setbacks we do, and our new will be a major upgrade in in the months to come, but Southeast health center terms of its location, layout you will be able to rely on will provide a better and appearance. It also the team at PPST. has a smaller footprint and patient experience We have successfully a monthly rental payment reduced budgeted with improved location, that will be two-thirds of operating expenses layout and appearance.” the rent at our current for 2020 by more than —Raymond Alva Southeast health center. $675,000 and we’re not Facilities & Security Manager We are working to finish done. These reductions remodeling the space and were not achieved by furloughs or layoffs, will be moving clinical operations by the both of which would have damaged our end of 2020. ability to provide care and, in so doing, New Marbach: We had planned to reduced earned revenue from our clinical relocate our Marbach Road clinic in operation. Some of these reductions San Antonio for similar reasons as our came from our cancellation of the annual Southcross clinic relocation—improved luncheon and a reduction in other community engagement in-person events. layout and upgrade to the patient experience. While we had previously But much of these savings was found the purchased property for a new health old-fashioned way — belt-tightening. We center, we had not yet begun construction. are looking at every decision, with an eye The PPST Board of Directors has voted toward reducing our operating expenses. to stand down plans for building a new Separate from operating expenses that health center. This decision will preserve appear on the Income Statement, we have cash on our balance sheet so that we evaluated our capital projects to determine are more likely to withstand whatever which ones are essential to our ability to challenges this pandemic brings in the care for and protect our patients and which months to come. projects, while important when we were — Jeffrey Hons, President & CEO living in one world, can be postponed now
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Planned Parenthood South Texas
Heroic philanthropy Many people are rethinking their definition of hero these days, and it has been good to see so many people whose work is typically overlooked called out for their heroism. We’re of the opinion that in times as difficult as these, all philanthropy is heroic — both for what it means to you and your family, and for what it means to the women and families we are able to care for as a result of it. Planned Parenthood has been using “In this together” as a rallying cry for over a year — long before COVID, when it became a mantra for the whole country. Because of you and your philanthropy, “In this together” is never an empty phrase at Planned Parenthood South Texas. It is a commitment that you enable us to honor daily. It is a lifeline. When it comes to paying for their health care, so many of our patients just can’t quite do it on their own. They know that when they come to us, they won’t have to. They’ll find you. You are here, together with us, making the sliding fee scale slide for anyone with demonstrated need and funding the vouchers that provide free services to women in the Rio Grande Valley who need the cost of their visit completely covered. 16 | 2020 Summert HORIZONS
You are here partnering with individual women who want to postpone pregnancy. This is especially helpful for patients who choose IUDs and contraceptive implants, which have high upfront costs but last for years. And you are here to welcome and provide financial support to people with limited resources who need abortion care — a service as essential as any we provide and not something that should be an option only for women of means. We are immensely grateful to the hundreds of heroes who have stepped up with gifts recently, to Ann and Chico Newman who have offered a $100,000 challenge grant, to those of you who have so generously allowed us to convert your luncheon sponsorships into gifts, and to the San Antonio Area Foundation and the Brown Foundation, who have come forward with emergency funding. The world is destabilizing around us in any number of ways, but thanks to you, we are continuing to make essential health care truly accessible to everyone who walks through our doors. No matter what.
Upcoming and ongoing ways to give The Big Give in San Antonio on September 10
The coronavirus pandemic caused the Big Give, the 24-hour day of online giving to San Antonio area nonprofits, to move from March to September. No matter the time of year, donations made during the Big Give help us provide compassionate, high-quality health care and education to our patients. Support Planned Parenthood South Texas during the Big Give 2020 and help us win cash prizes, which we can use to deliver even more care. Go to www.thebiggivesa.org between midnight and 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, September 10 to make a gift. For more information, contact Dawn at dawn.kahley@ ppsouthtexas.org or (210) 736-2244 ext. 340.
Workplace giving
In 2019, Planned Parenthood South Texas received more than $193,000 from donors through workplace giving. The majority of these donations came from federal, state and local government employees. Thank you to all of donors who gave through their workplace in 2019! Unfortunately, in January, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion that state employees can’t donate to Planned Parenthood through their workplace due to a new state law that bans abortion providers and their affiliates from partnering with local government entities. If you were previously giving to PPST through SECC, you can now donate directly to PPST, either with a one-time gift or recurring donation, by going to ppsouthtexas.org or calling Dawn at (210) 736-2244 ext. 340. If you’re still getting funds taken out of your paycheck that you thought were coming to PPST, contact your employer’s Human Resources department. If you work for another employer with a workplace giving program and you’d like to support PPST, you can specify where you want your money invested by looking for Planned Parenthood Cameron County (RGV clinics), Planned Parenthood San Antonio (Bexar County clinics), Planned Parenthood South Texas (all clinics), and Planned Parenthood South Texas Surgical Center (abortion care)
Anytime giving
Of course, any day may be the right day for you to make a gift, and we’ll gratefully and gladly accept them in whatever form is most convenient for you! Give directly online by going to ppsouthtx.org/Donate. If you are making a gift through the national Planned Parenthood website, click on the “Specific Giving” tab on the donation page and make sure to choose “Planned Parenthood South Texas” as the destination for your gift. We also welcome gifts by check, EFT, over the phone, via stock transfers, IRA or bequests. For help with giving, contact Angela, Gladys or Dawn at 210-736-2244.
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