Current:Home > ScamsPlanned Parenthood Oregon leaders plan to dissolve political arm, sparking concerns about advocacy -InvestSmart Insights
Planned Parenthood Oregon leaders plan to dissolve political arm, sparking concerns about advocacy
View
Date:2025-04-16 19:59:07
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! (542)
Related
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Boy Meets World’s Maitland Ward Shares How Costar Ben Savage Reacted to Her Porn Career
- Travis Kelce Reveals His Guilty Pleasure Show—And Yes, There's a Connection to Taylor Swift
- Alabama police officers on leave following the fatal shooting of a 68-year-old man
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Johnny Depp calls Amber Heard defamation trial 'a soap opera' while promoting new film
- Alabama man declared 'mentally ill' faces execution by method witnesses called 'horrific'
- New survey finds nearly half of Asian Americans were victims of a hate act in 2023
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Ex-CIA officer convicted of groping coworker in spy agency’s latest sexual misconduct case
Ranking
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Johnny Depp calls Amber Heard defamation trial 'a soap opera' while promoting new film
- New Study Finds Lakes in Minority Communities Across the US Are Less Likely to be Monitored
- Houston Astros win AL West after win over Seattle Mariners
- Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
- Aaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer
- New survey finds nearly half of Asian Americans were victims of a hate act in 2023
- Ellen DeGeneres says she went to therapy amid toxic workplace scandal in final comedy special
Recommendation
Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
Prodigy to prison: Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in FTX crypto scandal
Steelworkers lose arbitration case against US Steel in their bid to derail sale to Nippon
Vince McMahon sexual assault lawsuit: What is said about it in 'Mr. McMahon'?
Sonya Massey's father decries possible release of former deputy charged with her death
The Masked Singer Reveals That Made Fans' Jaws Drop
Amy Poehler reacts to 'Inside Out 2' being Beyoncé's top movie in 2024
Deion Sanders, Colorado's 'Florida boys' returning home as heavy underdogs at Central Florida