NEW YORK, NY Today, Planned Parenthood launches "This is Health Care," a national awareness effort aimed at reinforcing that reproductive and women's health services are standard medical care.
"Reproductive health care is health care. Women's health care is health care. And health care is a basic human right," said Dr. Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "For more than 100 years, providing quality health care and education has been at the center of Planned Parenthood's mission. As a doctor, I know that services like cancer screenings, well-woman exams, and the full range of reproductive health care including birth control and abortion are standard medical care. They should be treated just like any other aspect of medical care and available to everyone regardless of their income, ZIP code, or identity."
With the arrival of Dr. Leana Wen, the first doctor to lead Planned Parenthood in nearly 50 years, the organization is reiterating that it is well past time that women's health care including birth control, cancer screenings, abortion, and STD testing and treatment is recognized for what it is: standard health care.
Annually, Planned Parenthood health centers provide more than 9.5 million reproductive health care services, including more than 660,000 cancer screenings, 2.7 million birth control services, more than 700,000 HIV tests, and more than 4.4 million STD tests total. Planned Parenthood provides transgender hormone therapy in 17 states.
For many of Planned Parenthood's patients, Planned Parenthood is their only source of health care.
The launch of "This is Health Care" comes as voters made clear in the midterm election that they are unhappy with the Trump administration's attacks on health care and politicians debating whether or not women have a right to basic health care services. Less than 24 hours after voters spoke at the polls, the Trump administration released new rules that would allow employers to deny women birth control coverage.