INSIDE ITHACA’S PLANNED PARENTHOOD an interview with local activists maureen kelly and liz gipson by Katie O’Brien This summer, anti-abortion group The Center For Medical Progress released videos that were deceptively edited and spliced to make it appear as if a Planned Parenthoodaffiliated social worker was facilitating the illegal sale of fetal tissue. The full videos, available online, show that the context of the conversation actually had nothing to do with fetal tissue sale, but fetal tissue donation for medical research, and the social worker’s list of prices was in reference to transportation costs. Despite the videos being obviously and verifiably fake, the Republicans in Congress have used them to fuel their extreme agenda to defund Planned Parenthood and systematically remove women’s access to essential, legal health services. In accordance with the Hyde Amendment, a provision of Roe vs. Wade, Planned Parenthood’s federal funding does not even go toward paying for abortions. Instead, the approximately 11
$530 million in funds that the nonprofit receives annually provides millions of women with birth control, STI screenings, pap smears, breast exams, sexuality education, and general healthcare. Ithaca’s Planned Parenthood clinic is an affiliate of Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes (PPSFL), which serves four upstate New York counties with healthcare, and ten with advocacy. There are health centers in Ithaca, Watkins Glen, Elmira, Corning, and Hornell. To find out more about the importance of Planned Parenthood in our own community, as well as on a national scale, kitsch interviewed two women who work at Ithaca’s Planned Parenthood. “We’re Never Quite Off-Duty” Maureen Kelly, VP of Education & Communications, has worked at our local Planned Parenthood for the past 21 years. She first became passionate about reproductive rights when she failed a women’s health class at her Catholic, allgirls high school for attempting to give a presentation about contraception. “That was a pretty formative moment for me as a young activist. I remember thinking ‘wait...what? You don’t get to pick what I get to know. These are my parts!’” She has since dedicated her life to educating youth about sexual health and sexuality, working first at Planned Parenthood’s front desk, then as an educator, and now managing the education program. “I come from the philosophical approach that we have to talk about this stuff, we have to eradicate shame, we have to eradicate secrecy and that sense of embarrassment, whether it’s an abortion story or a need for birth control or a concern about an STD,” she said. part of people’s communication or their prevention behaviors.” But they also have to have their guard up a bit more when talking about their work, because they never quite know how someone is going to react. “I think it takes a very specific type of person to work at Planned Parenthood, because you do have to deal occasionally with people saying terrible things when they find out where you work,” said Gipson. “And so it has to be something that you’re passionate about and that you’re willing to really fight for, whether you’re anything from an educator to a billing associate. It’s something you have to be willing to talk to people about constantly.” “We Serve Our Community As It Exists” PPSFL annually provides healthcare to 11,000 and education to 16,000 people of all genders, ages, and socioeconomic backgrounds. However, the majority of patients are under 25, low income, and people of color, due to the prejudices and barriers that make it more difficult for these groups to access healthcare. “It’s such an intersectional approach to how we do healthcare, which is, being a young, African-American girl in the city of Ithaca, you’re dealing with a different circle of stuff that’s going to make accessing healthcare harder,” said Kelly. Despite the efforts of the Affordable Care Act, there were still over 32 million uninsured Americans in 2014. Forty-eight percent of those individuals said they were uninsured due to the cost of insurance, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “In terms of age, race, socioeconomic status and background, we really do serve our community as it exists. Our job is to see you and whatever experience you bring and to honor that, and to care for you—period, non-negotiable, “Our job is to see you and whatever experience you bring and to honor that, and to care for you—period, non-negotiable, what do you need? ” Liz Gipson, Director of Public Affairs, says she first became involved with Planned Parenthood as a patient herself. Then, after she graduated college, she began work for a political reproductive rights organization, and volunteered at a Manhattan health center as an abortion doula, supporting women as they went through the procedure. In July, she began work in Ithaca. “I’m really lucky to be one of the few people that’s gotten to see Planned Parenthood from three different sides,” she said. Kelly and Gipson agreed that one of the things that makes them proudest to be part of Planned Parenthood is the way people open up to them. “We tend to be people that hold people’s stories,” said Kelly. They both said that patients, strangers, and friends often confide in and consult them. “You get friends that contact you because their kid’s having their period, and they don’t know how to talk to them. So we’re never quite off-duty. I have picked up countless packs of birth control pills and emergency contraception; you become a more integral what do you need?” said Kelly. Due to its position in New York, a liberal state, PPSFL faces fewer limitations and restrictions on their ability to provide care for patients than many other states do. “New York State is one of the 14 states that uses state funds to fund abortions which is fantastic, and we’re one of the few states that actually opted to do it, was not sued into doing it, which is something that I’m really proud of as a New Yorker,” said Gipson. This means that they can help more people pay for their procedure that would not otherwise have coverage— “people traveling from Pennsylvania, people whose insurance won’t cover it, people who can’t get Medicaid or make just over the Medicaid cutoff.” Planned Parenthoods in New York are uniquely positioned politically as well, because they can push more progressive legislation that other states “could never dream of.” However, PPSFL’s position in a rural community can bring challenges. The decreased visibility of upstate New York 12
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