Our reporters have closely followed public health issues — including the ongoing heroin crisis — for years with an eye toward identifying problems and finding solutions.
A state law taking effect Monday prohibits local health authorities from using public money to partner with Planned Parenthood.
Advocates for the organization say the move will limit the group’s work on health issues in southwest Ohio, including sexually transmitted diseases, domestic violence and the ongoing heroin crisis.
The new law passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. John Kasich prohibits public funds — including federal money — from going to entities that perform or promote abortions. The bill gained support amid a report from Attorney General Mike DeWine that aborted fetuses were disposed in landfills — allegations the organization calls "inflammatory and false."
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region clinics in Springfield, Hamilton and Dayton provide abortion referrals to other organizations, but do not provide abortions on site. Abortions are offered at a Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region facility in Cincinnati.
Advocates for the bill maintain there are more than 200 federally-qualified health centers in Ohio where the money previously directed to Planned Parenthood can be used to provide health services.
Planned Parenthood responded by filing a suit in federal district court earlier this month.
In its lawsuit Planned Parenthood cited local examples of jeopardized programs. Many of the programs are funded through federal money disbursed by the Ohio Department of Health. In other cases, public agencies needed to turn down support from Planned Parenthood because of the new law.
In one case, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region received from the Ohio Department of Health $65,000 in federal money under the Violence Against Women Act. That money was used to teach 700 middle and high school students a year in Montgomery, Clark, Greene and Preble counties about sexual assault and healthy relationships, according to the lawsuit.
In Butler County, health officials were planning to involve a mobile clinic funded by Planned Parenthood in an attempt to fight the area’s widespread heroin and opiate abuse crisis. Now, officials stopped pursuing plans to introduce a needle exchange program on the bus and will not be able to use the clinic’s sexually transmitted disease testing services, either.
“I think one of the big issues that we’re seeing, going along with the heroin and opiate use and the deaths happening with that, lies in the communicable diseases,” said Butler County Health Department Director Pat Burg. She added, “I think the impact we’re already feeling is with the communicable diseases and we would certainly hope to have a program to slow that down a bit.”
The mobile clinic formerly serviced Butler County two times a month. Officials are now looking for ways to provide the services.
In another case, Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County terminated a $6,000 contract under which Planned Parenthood provided services supporting the Ohio HIV Prevention Statewide Initiative. Public Health was able to renegotiate a contract with the Middletown City Health Department to provide the services terminated, according to documents.
In September Public Health also entered into an agreement with Planned Parenthood for up to $40,000 for a program to teach children aged 14 to 19 in the foster care and juvenile justice system about abstinence, contraception, STDs, financial literacy and career preparation.
Clark County Health Commissioner Charles Patterson said Planned Parenthood can still participate in the county’s reproductive health task force, which seeks to lower Clark County’s teen pregnancy rate, which is among the highest in the state.
“They provide some needed services in Clark County, and since we’re typically in the top 10 percent of counties in Ohio for teen pregnancy rates, when they provide reproductive health services it can help with those bad numbers we have,” Patterson said. “We have the task force on reproductive health and they certainly join us at the table for that.”
Patterson said he noticed the health department was prohibited from contracting with Planned Parenthood while completing a grant application. Otherwise, Patterson said Planned Parenthood Springfield Health Center staff told the agency they will operate as normal, meaning the impact to those services could be slim, if any.
“I don’t think it’s going to end up being as much as an issue as originally thought,” Patterson said. “In some cases folks are hearing about this and folks who donate are actually giving more money to make up for it.”
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