Leaders of Oregon’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates gave final approval Monday evening to dissolve the political advocacy arm of their organization with promises of creating a more united front at a time when abortion rights have come under increasing attack.
It’s a move that CEOs Sara Kennedy, of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, and Amy Handler, of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, first signaled was in the works this summer. They plan to create a new, more integrated advocacy arm and promise the move will not only help bolster their political efforts but also ensure sustainability for their health care clinics.
The new political advocacy arm, Handler and Kennedy said, will be more interwoven into the current work of the health care clinics. The dissolution of the current advocacy organization will officially happen after the November election.
“We will really all be on the same page about what our goals and our needs are,” Handler said.
Clinic staff listen as Gov. Kate Brown held a joint press conference with Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, reaffirming Oregon’s commitment to abortion access, Aug. 25, 2022, at the Hillman East Portland Health Center.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Kennedy and Handler said they were in the midst of forming a new coalition of all the state’s abortion care providers, including Oregon Health & Science University and the Lilith Clinic, a reproductive health care clinic in Portland.
Currently, Kennedy said, there are multiple messengers trying to convey Planned Parenthood goals and priorities across the state.
“When Sen. Wyden is talking to Amy or me or to the new executive director, Sen. Wyden should be hearing the same message from all three of us and that North Star for us is how do we keep our doors open to take care of the people who need us most, both in Oregon and beyond,” Kennedy said.
But the move to dissolve the longstanding political advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood blindsided some long-time advocates and elected officials who credit the organization with the strong protections Oregon currently has in place for reproductive health care.
While states across the country are restricting access to abortion and other reproductive health care in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Oregon has been able to expand abortion access, sending millions of dollars to health care providers and opening a new health clinic in Ontario.
The members of the Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon’s at-large board resigned on Monday after the board meeting saying they remain “disheartened, saddened, and frustrated by this process and its result.”
The letter says the new leaders moved forward without “meaningful participation” and without “good faith engagement with community input, and without genuine consideration of other possible paths forward.”
Members of the advocacy group said previously they were concerned the new leaders were making a “rushed decision based on inaccurate information about what Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon is, what it does, and what it has accomplished.”
U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, signed on to a letter along with 100 other people this summer urging the two CEOs to reconsider.
After the decision became final, Hoyle said the advocacy organization, PPAO, was “instrumental in proactively protecting and defending access to reproductive healthcare in Oregon” and said it would be a great loss.
“Those of us who have been fighting this fight for decades will continue to support the effort to ensure reproductive health care is at the forefront of our advocacy,” Hoyle said.
Handler and Kennedy said they were surprised by the community’s outpouring when their decision first became public.
Kennedy reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to political advocacy. " “We are doing this because we are trying to build and strengthen advocacy,” she said.