Email from Planned Parenthood

In response to my blog post, Pregnancy (and Rights) Lost. My Experience with Miscarriage, Planned Parenthood and the Government, I received the following emails from Planned Parenthood.  (Posted with permission.)

 

Dear Ms. Kelly McNulty Valenzuela:

As President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, I was deeply touched by your recent blog post detailing a personal and emotional experience you had at one of our health centers.  I’m glad you found our staff welcoming, professional, comforting, and accepting during a time of great need.

I’d also like to commend you for recognizing that Planned Parenthood is pro-family and pro-life – everyday we work to ensure that women have access to affordable health care and are able to plan their families for when they are ready.  We also recognize that each woman’s circumstance is unique and we are here to support any choice she makes.

I would, however, like to clarify a common misperception.  In Colorado, Planned Parenthood does not receive state or federal family planning grant funds.  Rather, we provide preventive family planning services to those who need our services with support from private donations.  As a Medicaid provider, we also are able to provide preventive services to Coloradoans most in need of affordable health care.  Simply put, we do not receive government subsidies. Furthermore, we strictly follow state and federal laws that prohibit public funding of abortion (with exceptions only made for cases of rape, incest or the life of the woman).

Again, I thank for your support of our mission and please feel free to personally contact me if you would ever like to get more involved with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.  In the meantime, I encourage you to sign up for our free political affairs email newsletter to stay up to date on local news and events impacting reproductive health.

Again, thank you for your remarks in support of Planned Parenthood and the women we serve.

Vicki Cowart

President & CEO

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

7155 E. 38th Ave | Denver, CO 80207 | 303.321.7526

Someone you know counts on Planned Parenthood.
Please consider supporting Planned Parenthood today by visiting www.pprm.org.

I thanked Vicki for emailing me, clarifying the government subsidies aspect and asked for her permission to post her email, which she graciously gave.  In her response, she also included the following:

 

One other thing – while I was speaking from the perspective of PPRM [Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains], which receives no public funding for family planning in Colorado, I also know that across the US, even if they receive public funds, all Planned Parenthood affiliates “strictly follow state and federal laws that prohibit public funding of abortion”. That strict compliance is something we have in common in all of our locations.

Again, I thank Vicki for this clarification and for writing to me, and I thank Planned Parenthood for helping me when I needed help.