Statements
Mission
The mission of PPTNM is to improve health equity by providing high quality, non-judgmental sexual health care, honest and accurate sexuality education, and fearless reproductive health and rights advocacy.
Background
Planned Parenthood was founded on the revolutionary idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams- no ceilings, no limits. Today, Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider with more than 600 health centers across the U.S. Ours is an organization of dedicated health care providers, informed educators and passionate advocates, and we are a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and advocacy to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi is one of 49 unique, locally governed Planned Parenthood affiliates across the nation. The Planned Parenthood Federation of Tennessee was founded in 1939, and our first health center opened in Memphis in 1941. At that time, women in Tennessee had no control over whether and when they had a child. State laws prohibited contraception use, abortion was illegal, and high-quality reproductive health care was a luxury few could afford. Planned Parenthood changed that. In the 83 years since we opened our doors, we have helped people from all across the mid-South make informed choices about their health, their families, and their futures. In the early days, we provided contraceptive counseling and sexual health education programs. We added abortion care after Roe v. Wade was enacted in 1973. When the expansion of abortion rights brought fierce backlash in the '80s and '90s, Planned Parenthood organized the fight against legislative interference with reproductive health care. Our fight continues today as never before. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, turning their backs on 50 years of precedence and leaving women and other people who can become pregnant with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had. Thanks to a trigger law passed in 2019, abortion became illegal in Tennessee in August 2022. But we will not give up, and we will never stop caring for our patients. Now, in addition to our other vital sexual and reproductive health services, we are providing abortion care navigation to provide financial and logistical assistance to folks needing abortion care out of state. It is a new age of challenges, but we are more determined than ever to provide care and fight fiercely for the reproductive rights of all people. No matter what.
Impact
HEALTH CARE: PPTNM provides high-quality, affordable, non-judgmental sexual and reproductive health care. We have 4 health centers in Tennessee (Knoxville, Nashville, 2 in Memphis). Last year, we served over 10,000 individuals, providing sexual/reproductive health services including family planning counseling and birth control; pregnancy testing/options counseling; gynecological care and Pap tests; clinical breast exams; emergency contraception; HIV testing/counseling; screening/treatment for STIs; gender-affirming health services; safer sex counseling; abortion services/referrals; and referrals for specialized care. All people deserve health care, and we welcome patients regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, income, insurance, or zip code. We accept insurance, including TennCare and marketplace plans. Our health center managers are empowered to offer reduced rates for patients based on need, and some donor-supported services are offered at no charge. This year, we received Title X funding, which will allow us to provide sliding-scale and free services based on patient income and family size. Our goal for the future is to expand health center services to meet current patient needs, attract new patients, and improve facilities/security for the well-being of patients and staff. Health Centers in 2023: 10,711 unduplicated patients; 14,826 patient visits; 710 clinical breast exams; 25,390 HIV/other STI tests; 1,131 cycles of contraception; 2,728 long-acting reversible contraceptives; 2,181 emergency contraception kits; 41 PrEP/PEP patients; 2,004 gender-affirming hormone therapy visits; 227 PPDirect (asynchronous telehealth) patients; and 504 patients navigated for abortion services. We provided over half a million dollars in unreimbursed care. EDUCATION: PPTNM's sex ed programs are comprehensive, easy to understand, and age-appropriate. They empower participants with medically accurate information about anatomy, STIs, birth control, communication/refusal skills, and more. PPTNM uses peer education models to teach young people to teach each other. But sex ed isn't just for youth! We also offer programs for parents, youth-serving professionals, Spanish speakers, and more. To complement our trainings, we run a state-wide condom distribution program. Our goal for the future is to expand education services through new delivery models and new communities. Education in 2023: 118 education hours and 74 professional training hours delivered; 20 peer educators trained; 1,398 education session enrollees; and 885,271 condoms/safer sex supplies distributed for free. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT/ADVOCACY: We believe that all people- no matter who they are, where they live, or what they earn- have the right to make decisions about their bodies and families without political interference. We work to shift the public opinion/cultural climate in favor of sexual and reproductive health. Our community engagement strategies include volunteer activation, outreach, neighborhood canvassing, town halls, and storytelling. For lobbying and electoral work, PPTNM collaborates with Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, a 501(c)4 social welfare nonprofit, and with Planned Parenthood Tennessee Action Fund, a 527 PAC. Through our work, we reduce abortion stigma, spread truth, and train the next generation of advocates and activists. Our goal for the future is to continue to build power and reach by raising our brand profile and engaging more volunteers, supporters, and donors. Community Engagement/Advocacy in 2023: 223,061 TN and MS supporters; 1,006 volunteers; 7 Generation Action Chapters on college campuses; average of 30 advocacy trainings/events per month; 468 trained patient greeters and escorts; 942 supporters engaged with Raiz, our Spanish-language organizing program; and 538 people engaged through our B.L.A.C.K. Organizing program.
Needs
Every year, we work with thousands of patients who know that we will be here for them, no matter what. But we're only able to make that promise because of donors like you. Our most pressing needs are annual giving and recurring gifts. This year, your gifts will help us sustain health care services, provide education, advocate for reproductive rights, and help patients obtain abortions in states where it remains legal. In 2021 and 2022, we were under attack like never before--an unidentified gunman shot through the doors of our health center in January 2021, and an arsonist burned our Knoxville Health Center to the ground on New Year's Eve 2021. In an even greater tragedy, our very right to abortion was taken from us when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. Abortion became completely illegal in Tennessee in August 2022. We MUST fight for our patients' rights and access to care. We need your support to continue providing vital health care services, navigating patients to abortion care, sharing sexual health knowledge through our education programs, and fighting to regain the right to abortion through our advocacy and community engagement work. Your support has never been more necessary or more valued, and we cannot thank you enough.
CEO Statement
With or without Roe, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi (PPTNM) has always been vital to the communities we serve. For more than 80 years, we have provided affordable, high quality, nonjudgmental sexual and reproductive healthcare for generations of Tennesseans from all walks of life. 2023 was a big year for us. We launched our Knoxville Mobile Unit to restore access to in-person reproductive healthcare for the thousands in East Tennessee who were affected by the shuttering of our health center following arson. Construction on our new Knoxville health center should be completed by summer 2024. Our new telehealth app, PP Direct, gives anyone in Tennessee direct access to birth control, UTI treatment, and emergency contraception, the means to talk to a PP provider, and home delivery of their birth control pills. We've launched vasectomy services in Memphis and Nashville. We're navigating patients out of state for abortion care. We have begun offering select primary care services, including hypertension management, knowing that many of our patients experience these conditions as a result of systemic issues in our society and health care systems. Our BIG news is that after the state of Tennessee was removed from the federal Title X program in April 2023, we moved fast to bring the money back to Tennessee and secure those dollars for our Planned Parenthood health centers--the federal government has awarded us $3.9 million per year for the next 3 years to provide free and low cost birth control, STI testing and treatment, wellness exams, and more. We are also bolstering and expanding our comprehensive sex education program based on needs brought to us by our community partners.
Finally, PPTNM has a new energy and focus around our advocacy work: our legislature is totally out of touch with people's values. It has never been just about abortion. It's now a fight for all of our lives and for democracy itself. We're holding fast to our reproductive healthcare values and with clear and unapologetic goals. We're training grassroots organizers, registering voters and mobilizing young people. PPTNM will never stop fighting for our patients' right to bodily autonomy.
Thank you for standing beside Planned Parenthood through this transformational year - helping us to serve immediate needs and sustain our ability to serve future generations with the same compassion and courage we've been synonymous with for the past 80 years.
Board Chair Statement
With or without Roe, Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi (PPTNM) has always been vital to the communities we serve. For more than 80 years, we have provided affordable, high quality, nonjudgmental sexual and reproductive healthcare for generations of Tennesseans from all walks of life. Every single person knows and loves a former - or current - Planned Parenthood patient. Someone who came to our doors in Knoxville, Memphis, or Nashville, needing expert care, contraception, or counseling, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. That patient might even be you. After the Dobbs decision, those needs didn't disappear - they skyrocketed. Today, we are tasked with dramatically ramping up our ability to care for and protect the people who come to us in Tennessee: People who must have even better access to contraception right now, in order to preserve their bodily autonomy and plan for their futures. People who must receive accurate, age appropriate sex education right now, so they can thrive in their own skin and lead informed, healthy lives. And, people who must have affordable access to a health care provider of any sort who is willing to serve them no matter what. Planned Parenthood has the longevity, experience, and community trust needed to be a safety net right now - and we are expanding our network of services to ensure that we will be.
2023 was a big year for us. We launched our Knoxville Mobile Unit to restore access to in-person reproductive healthcare for the thousands in East Tennessee who were affected by the shuttering of our health center following arson. Construction on our new Knoxville health center should be completed by summer 2024. Our new telehealth app, PP Direct, gives anyone in Tennessee direct access to birth control, UTI treatment, and emergency contraception, the means to talk to a PP provider, and home delivery of their birth control pills. We've launched vasectomy services in Memphis and Nashville. We're navigating patients out of state for abortion care. We have begun offering select primary care services, including hypertension management, knowing that many of our patients experience these conditions as a result of systemic issues in our society and health care systems. Our BIG news is that after the state of Tennessee was removed from the federal Title X program in April 2023, we moved fast to bring the money back to Tennessee and secure those dollars for our Planned Parenthood health centers--the federal government has awarded us $3.9 million per year for the next 3 years to provide free and low cost birth control, STI testing and treatment, wellness exams, and more. We are also bolstering and expanding our comprehensive sex education program based on needs brought to us by our community partners.
Finally, PPTNM has a new energy and focus around our advocacy work: our legislature is totally out of touch with people's values. It has never been just about abortion. It's now a fight for all of our lives and for democracy itself. We're holding fast to our reproductive healthcare values and with clear and unapologetic goals. We're training grassroots organizers, registering voters and mobilizing young people. PPTNM will never stop fighting for our patients' right to bodily autonomy.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Health Care - Reproductive Health Care |
| Secondary Category: | Health Care - Family Planning |
| Tertiary Category: | Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy - Reproductive Rights |
Areas Served
PPTNM serves 118 counties in Tennessee, North Mississippi, and surrounding areas. Our service area comprises all 95 counties in Tennessee, 22 counties in North Mississippi, and Crittenden County in East Arkansas near Memphis.
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