Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week on iHeart Sinsey.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Okay, quick story, Margaret Sanger was a nurse one hundred
years ago, a witness to the toll the pregnancy takes.
Her Irish mom had seven miscarriages, Andy eleven children. Her
health deteriorated, and she died at the age of fifty.
Birth control was illegal, so Margaret Sanger vowed to help,
traveling to Europe to learn all she could. She returned
(00:22):
open the first birth control clinic in New York and
that effort eventually led to Planned Parenthood. It's a nonprofit
that believes that all people should determine their own future
on weather or when to have children.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
It's a critical program that millions of people use, including
young people, to act as quality sexual and reproductive health information, education,
and healthcare.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This topic is at the top of the news and
my guest today is the CEO of Planned Parenthood of
Indiana and Kentucky, Rebecca Gibrm. Rebecca is revealing a virtual
platform to access their services response to the recent cutoff
of government grand funding and how that cutoff will affect
low income, minority communities and young people who use their
(01:08):
medical services.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Now on iHeart Sinsey with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Welcome back to IHEARTSINSE, Thanks for listening. I'm Sandy Collins.
Now my first guest is the CEO over Planned Parenthood
in Kentucky, Indiana and then also in Hawaii and Alaska.
Rebecca Gibrin is the CEO who is here today to
answer my questions about their new virtual online program to
(01:35):
help residents and rural and underserved parts of Indiana access
their services online. Rebecca, welcome to the show. What I
wanted to do as I've reached out to Planned Parenthood
about your virtual health Center initially the new online service
for Hoosiers in Indiana that live especially in healthcare deserts.
(01:56):
So we're going to talk about that and it offers
online visit it's but since our initial setup, the Trump
administration has now announced that they have cut the millions
of dollars in the Title ten Family Planning Fund to
Plan Parenthood.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I think first of all,
thanks thanks for having me on. And you know Title
ten is the nation's only national family planning program that
is devoted to offering high quality, affordable birth control and
other reproductive health options and services to people with low incomes.
(02:33):
This was a program that was founded in nineteen seventy.
It was founded with bipartisan support, and it really was
intended to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live,
no matter how much money they make, or whether or
not they have health insurance, but they have access to
(02:54):
essential reproductive healthcare. And it covers things like birth control,
cancer screening, STI testing and treatment, you know, annual wellness
exams and so you know, the fact that the Trump
administration is specifically targeting and attacking Planned Parenthood and cutting
(03:17):
off services to millions of Americans who rely on this
program across the country is really absolutely cruel. Make no mistake,
this is a targeted attack on Planned Parenthood for who
we are and who we serve in our communities.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
From a woman's standpoint that you know, I'm very aware
of what Planned Parenthood offers, and while I've never needed
your services, I understand that I can go there if
I need them. And one of the things that you offer,
which I think a lot of people probably don't realize,
is that you offer abstinence counseling for adolescents.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, I mean, you know, everyone should have the ability
to make decisions about their own reproductive lives and futures
and as it relates to the Title ten program and
the services that we provide. You know, it's a critical
program that millions of people use, including young people, to
access quality sexual and reproductive health information, education, and healthcare.
(04:24):
I mean, if I use my own experience, I grew
up in a very conservative family in the Midwest, and
when we moved to Idaho, I didn't know anything about
comprehensive sex education. And I walked into my first planned
parenthood at the age of sixteen solely for the purpose
(04:48):
of being educated planned parenthood, educating me about birth control,
about sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment. Really a lie
allow me to control my decision making and to make
responsible decisions at that age, to really control my destiny
(05:10):
right and help me with the information I needed to
make wise decisions.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Rebecca, Title ten dollars can't be used for abortions. So
can you explain why they think this is important to
hit planned parenthood if it's not even able to be
used for that purpose.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, I mean, it's very true. These funds already cannot.
It is explicitly, you know, not allowed that any of
these funds can be used for abortion care. Rather, this
program is aimed specifically at providing preventive family planning services
for patients. So, you know, the fact is the Trump
(05:56):
administration and you know, billionaire Elon Musk, they are making
federal government decisions that are negatively impacting the lives of
millions of Americans. They've been very clear that they want
to attack Planned Parenthood and to dismantle planned Parenthood and
(06:19):
the safety net that we provide in an already overstressed
and failing medical system. Right so, this is nothing more
than the Trump administration advancing their own political agenda against
Planned Parenthood, against vulnerable communities across this country. So we're
(06:44):
going to fight back. I mean, we are very much
looking right now at our legal options. We are prioritizing
right now patient access to care. We are going to
do everything that we can hand to mitigate the damage
that this cruel and shameful attack on the nation's only
(07:09):
family planning program to help low income Americans.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I'm talking with the CEO of the Planned Parenthood organization
in Indiana and Kentucky. You also cover Hawaii and Alaska.
I understand here in Ohio, Rebecca abortion was enshrined in
the constitution. Ohioans wanted women to be able to decide
their own But in Indiana and Kentucky, it's a different story.
(07:36):
Can you help explain what's going on in those states?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah? Correct, I mean, you know, the state of Indiana
and the state of Kentucky. You know, I also live
in Idaho and serve the state of Idaho. You know,
these three states are some of the states in the
nation that have the absolute most restrictive, awful abortion bands
on the books, even banning abortion in some cases of
(08:04):
medical emergency or rape and incest. And the fact is that,
you know, we already have some of the worst maternal
mortality rates in the country in Indiana and in Kentucky,
and these abortion bands are only going to make those
(08:25):
statistics worse as women are now being forced in a
situation to flee their home state. It is unconscionable that
a woman has to leave her own home state to
simply access abortion care and vital healthcare for their needs.
(08:46):
But that is what is happening, and it is creating
a public health crisis. I mean, if you look across
the country, we already have twenty one states where women
are living with no access to abortion care. It is
created the fall of Row and then the resulting impact
(09:06):
of state legislatures continuing to attack abortion care is creating
a nation wide health crisis that is only getting worse
day by day. It is not getting better, Rebecca.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I remember asking a Democratic attorney that I knew a
few years ago, and I said, you know, we understand
that it was a definite member of the Republican Party.
This Republican talk show host believes that. He said that
Democrats want abortions all the time, and they kind of,
(09:41):
you know, do all this exaggeration. I said, what do
you think about that? And she said to me, Democrats
don't want abortion. Democrats want it to be rare, but
they should have the opportunity to have it because it's
a medical condition that women find themselves in, and so
we wanted to be legal but rare. And I thought
(10:03):
that was a really interesting way of poison posing that position,
because I don't know of a woman that really, you know,
isn't you know, wants to do this. Most of the
time I've heard that they're you know, kind of forced
into it, or they're forced in the way that they
have no other options, or there's something wrong with the pregnancy.
(10:25):
So what do you think about that position of understanding
that there's a lot of people that don't really want abortion,
but they have to you know, it has to be available.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, listen, I think we should trust women. I think women,
you know, need to be able to make their own
medical decisions that are best for their lives. And they
need to be able to do that with their families,
with their you know, religious leaders, with their doctors, with
you know, their healthcare providers. Lawmakers have no business in
(10:57):
that exam room or no business making these decisions for women.
And certainly the way that you know, reduce abortion is
through providing preventive healthcare right. And so it makes zero
sense to have the Trump administration targeting the very program
(11:19):
that is intended to provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care,
you know, including birth control right that helps prevent unplanned
pregnancies across this country. And you know, if you look
at the state of Indiana as a great example, your neighbor,
there are contraceptive deserts in the state of Indiana. I mean,
(11:43):
you know, for over four hundred and twenty eight thousand
women who live in the state of Indiana, a reproductive
age live in a contraceptive desert where health centers offering
the full range of birth control options are scared and
even more learning. In Indiana, over one hundred thousand people
(12:05):
live in counties where there are no providers offering any
kind of comprehensive contraception services.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
So you've opened up the virtual Planned Parenthood Health Center
to address these issues. Let's talk about how it works
and how to access it.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yes, Planned parenthoods virtual health centers bridge the gap for comprehensive,
compassionate reproductive healthcare and we are super proud and excited
to have launched this virtual healthcare option in the state
of Indiana, also in Kentucky. It is an opportunity for
(12:47):
us to do everything that we can to meet our
patients where they are. So everyone deserves access to reproductive healthcare.
And in a state like Indiana with very rural geography
with limited healthcare infrastructure, it makes this reality challenging for
(13:07):
many people. The new virtual health center offers patients access
to reproductive health services by phone or video, and through telehealth,
patients can access services with fewer visits or without needing
to visit a physical health center at all. We are
(13:28):
offering things through the virtual health center, like birth control,
access to emergency contraception, HIV counseling and services, pregnancy testing
and planning, just offering STD testing and treatment options, sexual
and reproductive counseling, and concerns. All of those services now
(13:50):
are available through the new program.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So, Rebecca, does that mean if you're going to do
STD testing they would be sent a kid or something
and then they would send it back to have evaluator
or how does that work?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, it's actually both of those options. So there are
some limited STD testing and things that can be diagnosed
over the phone with a clinician, like you know, a
urinary tract infection. Those things are pretty easy to diagnose.
But what we're able to do is with a licensed
provider talk with a patient, do a consultation, do an assessment,
(14:28):
and if it is needed and the patient is in
a community where we are fortunate to have either a
Planned Parenthood health center or a referral partner, we will
absolutely refer those patients into a bricks and mortar health
center where that might be needed, or to a lab
right to get to do testing in a lab.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
If you just joined us, I'm speaking with the CEO
of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Rebecca Gibrin and Rebecca,
So how do we access this virtual network? Do you
need a cell phone or a pad or an iPad
or some sort of a computer.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Yeah, I mean people can access this through their phone,
through their computers. They just go to our website Planned
parenthood dot org slash health Center and if they just
select what type of visit they need, they will give
a pop up option of either in clinic or telehealth.
And it's really that simple. We are offering appointments right
(15:33):
now through the virtual health center five days a week.
We are going to you know, build to volume, right
so we often have same day or next day availability.
So people can just go to Planned Parenthood dot org
slash health Center, they enter their zip code and select telehealth.
(15:54):
It is as easy as that Planned parenthood dot org
forwards lash health Center and then they just enter their
zip code and select telehealth.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Is there any age restrictions that we need to know about? No,
So what's the next plan? Rebecca, What are you going
to do about this grant money being taken away? And
what's Planned Parenthood's response.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
We are looking at all of our legal options right
now to fight back against the Trump administration. And again,
our number one focus is our patients. Our patients are
north Star. They are the reason that we do the
incredible work that we do in our communities. And we're
going to do everything we can right to push back
(16:40):
on the Trump administration, and this you know, withholding of funds,
and we're going to do everything we can to minimize
the damage that the Trump administration is causing all across
the country with this attack on time parenthood.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Do you have any idea when the money being from
will start to be felt by Planned Parenthood.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Uh, you know, it's it's it was effective April first,
So you know, right now we are continuing to operate
business as usual while we figure out what our next
steps need to be. So I want to assure people
that we are still operating business as usual as we assess,
you know, what the next moves need to be in
(17:25):
this state. But prioritizing patient care is what we're doing
right now.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
All right, Rebecca, appreciate you taking time with me today.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Thank you. Sandy. Appreciate it once
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Again that website is Planned Parenthooddirect dot org.