In as much as conservative Republicans have waged their crusade against the civil and human rights of the LGBTQ community, they have sought to wield the same authority in both clandestine and overt efforts to control the reproductive lives of women.
A woman's right to the governance of her own body has been a battleground of increased intensity ever since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the right to privacy of Jane Roe.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood offers a wide range of services to millions of women, men, trans and gender non-binary individuals across the country. Because abortions are among those services, the more-than-century-old sexual and reproductive health organization has consistently been the target of legal attacks and domestic terrorism aimed at its centers and employees.
Somehow, it has weathered all of these storms.
But now, with the coming installation of President-elect Donald Trump, GOP members of the Republican-controlled 115th Congress are attempting to seize an opportunity to cut some 40 percent of Planned Parenthood's budget ( or more $500 million in federal funds—none of which goes to abortion services ).
Planned Parenthood's services go well beyond abortion. The myriad affordable and free services the organization offers include birth control, mammogram referrals, cancer screenings, gynecological care, HIV and other STD testing, reproductive education and health counseling, men's sexual health, PrEP and even help with smoking cessation.
For more than a year, the organization has also provided the transgender and gender non-binary communities with Hormone Replacement Therapy ( HRT ) which, in the majority of cases is an essential step in both mental and physical well-being.
Windy City Times spoke with Dr. Amy Whitaker, the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, to ask if Planned Parenthood can weather the present storm.
"The real consequences are going to be for our patients," she said. "In a lot of the language about defunding Planned Parenthood, there's this idea that we just get a check from the government. But that's not how we receive federal funds. We basically receive [them] by seeing women and men who have Medicaid for their insurance or who are using money from the Title X Family Planning Program to get their services with us. So the consequences are going to be that those men and women will not have as many options for where they are able to get their healthcare services."
According to Whitaker, a coordinated congressional assault "repealing the ACA [Affordable Care Act], defunding Planned Parenthood, limiting Medicaid and Title X services will leave patients without coverage and [they] will miss out on vital healthcare services."
This includes the men who use Planned Parenthood.
"STI testing is for both men and women," Whitaker said. "We provide vasectomy services for men, PrEP, partner treatment for sexually transmitted infections and our sex-ed programs are for everybody."
Among the most vulnerable of Planned Parenthood's patients are members of the transgender community whose struggles in receiving adequate healthcare are in lockstep with community-wide poverty rates, due to discrimination at all levels of society.
Planned Parenthood has been a life-saving oasis for the transgender community's health and wellness. It has also been an impassioned mission on the part of Planned Parenthood of Illinois Associate Medical Director Liz Higgins
"Planned Parenthood Federation of America has had protocols on providing hormone therapy and transgender healthcare for well over 10 years at some of our other affiliates," she said. "September of 2015 was when we officially started providing services and it was really a combination of me asking over the years and also having an administration willing to expand the services here in Illinois."
Higgins noted that Planned Parenthood of Illinois initially began providing HRT for transgender adults 18 and older.
"In the last three months we've been seeing 16- and 17-year-olds as well," she said. "For our adult patients, we work on the informed consent model. We work with a social worker and clinician team here in Planned Parenthood. Someone doesn't have to have a referral from a primary care provider."
The organization provides consistent lab tests to ensure safe HRT administration.
"Monitoring is very patient-specific," Higgins said. "The first year, we started at just a couple of health centers in the Chicago area. It took a while for us to get going. We opened up some sites in central Illinois. The past few months, service has really bloomed and we've been seeing a lot more patients."
She added that there has been little or no pushback from communities across the state and that, even if Planned Parenthood is defunded at a federal level, "we absolutely are going continue to provide services for all people including hormone therapy."
It was a defiant tone echoed by both Whitaker and Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, who promised the GOP "one hell of a fight."
"There are no federal funds that are used for abortions," Whitaker said. "Republicans in the past really believed that family planning should be available for everyone. We will keep fighting to provide comprehensive services for all patients who need them. We've been fighting for years. Our supporters have been as strong as ever. We feel very positive and ready for the fight but we're going to have to fight really, really hard on this one if we're not going to let our patients go without. I feel like we're always saying 'this is going to be the fight of our lives.'"
For more information on Planned Parenthood of Illinois, visit PlannedParenthood.org/planned-parenthood-illinois.
