Friday, April 20, 2012

Urban looking out for rural? in context of reproductive health

This article reports that three Planned Parenthood branches--in North Texas, Austin and Waco--are joining together to form Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, a $29 million/year, 26-clinic organization that will be better able to serve nonmetropolitan areas by "connect[ing] the fund-raising powerhouses concentrated in North Texas with endangered clinics throughout the 58,000 square-mile region and beyond."  The story doesn't use the terms "rural" or "nonmetropolitan," but it does suggest the metro-nonmetro divide--and the struggle to provide abortion services in less densely populated areas--in that prior quote and in this one:
What sets Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas apart it its size, in both geography and scope.  Its reach will extent from southern Austin up to Denton, from Tyler in East Texas west to Forth Worth.  In 2013, its 26 clinics--four will provide abortions--expect an estimated 180,000 patient visits.  They will provide birth control for 103,000 people, perform 8,500 abortions and screen tens of thousands of women for great cancer and cervical cancer and sexually transmitted infections.
I have written about spatial inequality in relation to abortion access here.

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