Contraceptive devices might be getting smaller—patches that are paper thin, hormone pills that are low dose—but Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge (PPBR) is in final negotiations to supersize itself. It wants to merge with a North Carolina affiliate—a move organization officials say aims to help women retain their reproductive rights in Virginia. It’s an effort to increase the effectiveness of its operations and, in part, become a more united front against what it perceives as legislatures hostile to the pro-choice movement.
The merger, if completed, would connect the affiliate’s four health centers in Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Lynchburg and Roanoke with Planned Parenthood Health Systems in Raleigh, which boasts eight health centers in North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.
“Legislatures in Virginia and other Southern states are not as welcoming to Planned Parenthood’s mission as some states in other regions of the country,” says David Nova, president and chief executive officer of PPBR. The combination would mean a $10 million budget, versus PPBR’s current $2 million operating budget, allowing for improved hiring practices, added educational opportunities or new centers. He doesn’t expect any job losses.
More cash would also mean more public policy work and lobbying efforts to combat predicted upcoming anti-choice state legislation. In Virginia, for instance, a health center regulatory bill (the so-called TRAP legislation) that would have shut down most, if not all, centers that provide abortions passed the House of Delegates earlier this year. It died in Senate committee. In past years as well, bills have surfaced that would restrict access to emergency contraceptives and grant pharmacists “moral rights” not to dispense birth control.
If the merger happens, it would follow a national trend for Planned Parenthood: The number of affiliates has dropped to 116 from 210 in 1990, with that number expected to drop to below 100 in the next few years.
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Boards for both groups plan to meet later this month.
