Q+A: Planned Parenthood exec talks sex ed, fear of Trump presidency

By Jackie Valley

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 | 2 a.m.

For Planned Parenthood, 2015 was a grueling year.

First, the nonprofit organization came under attack after the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-abortion group, made and released a video allegedly showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue to researchers. Planned Parenthood has been cleared of wrongdoing in several states — notably in Texas, where a grand jury in January exonerated the organization and instead indicted the videographers behind the allegations — but the controversy sparked congressional investigations and state inquiries that left funding hanging in the balance.

Then, a gunman opened fire Nov. 27 at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., killing three people and wounding nine others. The accused shooter, Robert Lewis Dear, has called himself a “warrior for the babies."

Last month, the Colorado Springs clinic partially reopened, signaling the organization’s desire to move forward this year.

“We see 8,000 people, mostly women, at that health center, and they had to go somewhere else,” said Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which includes two health centers in Southern Nevada. “Their care was disrupted. We have worked really hard to get it opened.”

Cowart visited Southern Nevada recently and sat down for an interview with the Las Vegas Sun on a wide range of topics, including the organization’s low points last year to her fears heading into the November elections.

The interview below has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Several states have concluded their inquiries into the allegations about fetal tissue and have found no wrongdoing on behalf of Planned Parenthood. How do you respond to critics?

The wrongdoers weren’t Planned Parenthood organizations. They were the folks at the Center for Medical Progress. We see this happen on a fairly regular basis. None of it ever amounts to anything because Planned Parenthood strictly follows all laws and medical protocols. Women who come to us, they know what they get — they get honesty.

After that controversy, Planned Parenthood came under attack — literally — at a health center in Colorado Springs. How has the mass shooting prompted security changes at Planned Parenthood clinics across the country?

Security comes in three areas — the physical infrastructure, the training of your people and then personnel, such as security officers. We evaluated each one of those components very carefully. We’re not talking a lot about the changes we’ve made because then it wouldn’t be secure, but we have gone across our entire system, including here in Nevada, and talked with our employees. Talked about what their fears and concerns were and what they thought needed to be done. Now we’re just starting to make those implementations.

It seems unlikely the verbal assaults against Planned Parenthood will lessen anytime soon, especially because it’s an election year. In light of last year’s events, what do you wish people knew?

Words matter. People need to think about the impact of what someone is going to do when they hear them spouting hatred toward another group or organization.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund already endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Much media attention lately, however, has focused on Donald Trump’s ambiguous remarks concerning Planned Parenthood. How does the organization feel about him?

Donald Trump would be very bad for women. When he says, “I’m going to defund Planned Parenthood,” he means, “I’m not going to allow women to use their Medicaid to come to Planned Parenthood.” Then he says that goofy thing about, “Oh, if they just stop giving abortions …” What does that mean? So you don’t get health care unless you go by his rules?

Make no mistake: He will not be good for women. That’s the part that is not at all ambiguous.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains operates two clinics in Las Vegas — one in the eastern valley on Flamingo Road and another on Charleston Boulevard near University Medical Center. Does the organization have any plans to expand here?

Not right now. We will be watching it very carefully. We had a third location in North Las Vegas. We opened it in 2008 or 2009. There were all these wonderful condos out there, and, demographically, we really anticipated that to be a busy location. As you know, it turned into a tumbleweed alley (because of the recession). So we did close that one.

Right now, we see about 14,000 patients a year in Las Vegas.

What health trends are you noticing here and elsewhere?

IUDs are definitely trending. They’re a form of long-acting, reversible contraception. They’re expensive up front, but if you make that investment, over time they can actually be less expensive than a monthly pill. And you don’t have to remember to take them. Birth-control pills work best if you take them every day at the same time. So if you have an erratic schedule — if you’re a student or an hourly worker — a long-acting reversible can be very, very effective.

One of the largest misconceptions about Planned Parenthood is that it just provides abortions. What other services are offered at Planned Parenthood health clinics?

We do breast health care, cancer screening, pap tests, testicular cancer screening, STD testing and treatment, and birth control.

A large portion of Planned Parenthood’s services revolve around reproductive health. Do any Nevada policies worry you in that regard?

We do a really bad job with sex education here. It’s not required in the schools. Planned Parenthood is not even allowed to go into the schools to provide sex education. In a city that is so accepting of sexuality, it is unfathomable to me that there isn’t a clearer focus on making sure all the citizens really know how to take care of themselves.

(Nevada is an opt-in state, meaning students need their parents’ written permission to participate in sex education classes.)

What type of sex education models does Planned Parenthood support?

Places that have put a lot of energy into thinking about how to provide good, comprehensive sex education tend to provide ongoing education in younger years — even sixth and seventh grade. Then, they give at least an hour of education a semester through high school. There’s continuity to it. It builds across time.