Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502090097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The main reason for adding the service is to ensure that women seeking abortions also have access to contraceptive counseling to prevent further unwanted pregnancies, it said in a letter supporters received Wednesday.
"You may be wondering 'Why now?', especially in light of the recent escalation of violence against abortion providers," Kathryn Haynie, the agency's president, and Alton Knighton, chairman of the board, wrote.
As "the leader in reproductive health care for women and the foremost advocate of women's right to choose," Planned Parenthood felt a responsibility to "ensure the availability of abortion services in our region of Virginia. And the only way we can do that is to provide this service ourselves," the letter stated.
"We will NOT be intimidated by a violent minority of anti-choice terrorists," it said.
Although none of Planned Parenthood's three area centers - in northwest Roanoke, Blacksburg and Charlottesville - currently offers abortion services, they increased security last month after the slayings of workers at two separate abortion clinics in Massachusetts.
One of the Massachusetts clinics was operated by a Planned Parenthood agency.
"Certainly the recent violence is of concern to us, but our greater concern is our patients and their needs," Haynie said.
The only abortion services in the area, other than those offered by private physicians for their patients, are provided by The Roanoke Medical Center for Women in Old Southwest.
Planned Parenthood's decision has nothing to do with the Roanoke Medical Center, Haynie said Wednesday night. "It was based on the fact that our patients do not want to be referred away from us."
People from Western Virginia and "even into West Virginia" look to this community for services, and "somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of counties do not have abortion providers," Haynie said.
"It's an important service for women. We'd like to make it rare, and we'd like to make it unnecessary. But at least one in every five American women at some point in her reproductive years will find it necessary to have an abortion," she said.
No startup date has been decided, although there has been discussion about fees, Haynie said. She experts the service to cost somewhere between $270 and $300.
Last month, all three centers added services for prospective parents and women at mid-life.
"The decision to expand services is ongoing. We decided two years ago to provide abortion services," Haynie said. It has taken the time since to complete the plans for the expansion, which will cost more than $100,000, she said.
The agency has 39 employees and an annual budget of $2.1 million. She said some additional staff will be hired.
The agency's Blacksburg and Charlottesville centers will assess the need for abortion services, Haynie said.
by CNB