Planned Parenthood anniversary celebrated amid collision of national, local voices

Drivers and pedestrians passing near the Marriott in Cedar Rapid Thursday night were confronted with graphic images and placed in close proximity to the raging national debate surrounding abortion. Inside the hotel, however, 200 people wiped tears from their eyes as a 33-year-old Dubuque woman recounted how the health care services offered by Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa saved and enhanced her life.

Although the metal sign above appeared to be something officially placed by local authorities, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Police Department indicated it was brought to an anti-abortion protest by demonstrators (photo by Lynda Waddington/The Iowa Independent).

“I’m not what is probably considered the poster girl of Planned Parenthood,” Wendy Wilwert told those attending a celebration and awards dinner marking the 30 year anniversary of the East Central Iowa affiliate. “People are led to believe that those who seek the services of Planned Parenthood are very young, ignorant and promiscuous, but I’m proof that is a just a stereotype.”

When Wilwert needed, but could not afford, specialized birth control pills for medical reasons, the Planned Parenthood office in Dubuque was able to help. Despite having to walk through protesters in order to enter the clinic, Wilwert immediately posted on Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa’s facebook page how pleased she was with the office visit.

“I have to say, the staff there are the friendliest, nicest and most comforting people I’ve ever come across in a medical office,” Wilwert wrote. “I felt totally comfortable and relaxed. … I will gladly continue going there, and tell all my friends to do the same.”

The words of a Cedar Rapids flood victim, who could not attend because she was recovering from a mastectomy, were read by a friend and provided praise for staff at the Cedar Rapids clinic. Without their help, she said, her breast cancer and other medical issues might have gone undetected due to her inability to pay.

The women are two of hundreds served each year by the Planned Parenthood Women’s Fund. Recipients of Fund’s monies are individuals who do not fit neatly into existing assistance programs — women whose lives are often in such disarray than an unattended medical problem would remove what little advantage they have in their day-to-day existence. The Fund helps to cover the cost of reproductive health care services to those uninsured or underinsured, low-income women who would otherwise fall through the cracks. It ensures that no woman is denied health care, regardless of an ability to pay. For Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa, roughly 70 percent of all patients receiving services are either underinsured or have no insurance.

Many anti-abortion demonstrators in Cedar Rapids Thursday night carried two-sided messages. Along busy Collins Road in front of the hotel where Planned Parenthood supporters gathered, signs featuring pictures of living newborns and positive messages were shown. At the back of the hotel, the large signs were flipped to display bloody, graphic images.

Such basic services as pap smears and sexually transmitted disease testing, however, were not the focus anti-abortion protesters who stood in front and back of the hotel prior to the annual dinner. Their signs did not mention the fact that clinics under the umbrella of Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa do not offer abortion services.

According to literature circulated by the groups prior to their demonstration, they decided to demonstrate because Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was serving as the evening’s keynote speaker. The group’s negative focus on Richards is what prompted local authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to increase security at the event — something the anti-abortion forces publicly hoped would spark enough fear in supporters to keep them from attending the event, proceeds of which benefited the Women’s Fund.

During her keynote address, Richards made only one brief remark about the protesters outside the facility, noting that if they “really cared about preventing unintended pregnancy” and reducing the number of abortions in America, that “they’d be volunteering at Planned Parenthood.”

Prior to her public address, however, Richards told The Iowa Independent that she remained hopeful that there could be common ground in the national debate on abortion.

“I don’t think there is common ground with folks who commit violence against providers — which is a very select group of folks who I don’t think have an interest in common ground. But I would say the vast majority of Americans are very supportive of Planned Parenthood and women’s health care and recognize that while they may differ on the issue of abortion that, at the end of the day, they can’t make that decision for every woman. I think that is where there is an enormous amount of common ground,” Richards said.

Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa operates clinics in Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Monticello. The organization was founded in 1980 with a staff of two and under the name Planned Parenthood of Linn County, and has since expanded to a staff of 20. In 2009, the organization provided health care services to 4,500 people (4,000 women and 500 men), and provided medically accurate, age appropriate sex education to more than 5,000 adults and youth.

Services offered by the East Central Iowa affiliate include pregnancy prevention education, birth control, cervical cancer screenings, Hepatitis vaccinations, sexually transmitted disease education, HPV vaccinations and advanced medial treatment for precancerous conditions. The organization also offers a wide variety of sexually transmitted disease testing services.

Editor’s Note: Due to threats of violence, no photographs were allowed to be taken during the Planned Parenthood dinner or ceremony.