Nightingale Advocacy

Written by: Ava Tingue, Marcus HS

This Saturday, Nightingale Advocacy held a virtual collaboration between our organization and Planned Parenthood where we delved into crucial discussions surrounding healthcare policy! This exclusive event was tailored for Nightingale members who are passionate about advocating for comprehensive reproductive health or interested in entering the medical policy sphere.

Our expert representative, Alex Strawn of Planned Parenthood Greater Texas (PPGT), offered a series of in-depth webinars and workshops on PPGT’s mission/health services, legislation surrounding abortion care, and ways that youth can get involved in the healthcare policy sphere.

Planned Parenthood’s Mission and Challenges

With DFW health centers in Addison, Arlington, Bedford, Cedar Hill, Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth, Mesquite, and Plano, PPGT serves over 65,000 patients through over 100,000 appointments each year. Their core mission is to ultimately create healthier communities by providing comprehensive reproductive and related healthcare services, delivering science-based education programs and serving as a strong advocate for reproductive justice within Texas.

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas’s healthcare services include (but are not limited to):

• Birth control
• STI Testing and Treatemnt 
• UTI Testing and Treatment
• Emergency Contraception
• PrEP & PEP (HIV Prevention Medication)
• Colposcopy & LEEP (Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure)
• Urinary Tract & Vaginal Infection Treatment
• Breast & Cervical Cancer Screenings
• Annual Health Exams
• Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy

 

However, due to anti-reproductive leadership within Texas, health outcomes and healthcare access have worsened. Our maternal mortality rate remains one of the highest in the nation, and Texas is in the top 10 for cervical cancer rates in the US. Moreover, Texas ranked last nationally in access to prenatal and maternal care, and first in the number of uninsured individuals. 

Post-Dobbs legislation is the root cause of many of these issues. There are multiple abortion bans in effect throughout Texas, including the Pre-Roe ban, SB8, and HB1280 (a trigger ban), denying millions of women control over their reproductive functions. In addition, strict local abortion travel ordinances not only bar pregnant women from leaving the state for abortion, but also mean that anyone assisting those seeking reproductive treatment can be charged criminally. These laws are also incredibly vague, and although suits like Zurawski v. Texas are being filed to clarify medical exceptions of SB8 & the trigger ban, they are being faced by extreme conservative resistance.

A Multi-Dimensional Solution

A multi-pronged approach to reproductive freedom would prioritize 3 critical dimensions.

1. Reproductive Health: emphasizing access to necessary reproductive health services
2. Reproductive Rights: driving efforts to gain constitutionally framed legal protections for those services
3. Reproductive Justice: taking into account that reproductive oppression is the result of the intersections of multiple oppressions and cannot be alleviated without strategies to address them all

 

Yet, the question remains: how can, we, as youth, work towards this solution? By joining Nightingale Advocacy, you’ve already taken the first step. We continually push out initiatives and leadership opportunities that aim to improve health equity, reframe health policy, and promote both medical and legislative education within our state and nation. To take action with PPGT, consider participating in tabling and event support opportunities, sharing your story through mediums such as social media advocacy, organizing campaigns on your campus, or participating in election season volunteering with PPTX.

Further Information

Opportunities for Youth:

PPGT Action Network (get updates on events & volunteer opportunities)

Apply for PPGT’s Teen Advocacy Board

Acknowledgements:

A huge thank-you to Alex Strawn, PPGT’s Community Outreach Specialist (Fort Worth), for making this event possible and offering her expert insight! To reach her with any questions, please email alex.strawn@ppgt.org.