Planned Parenthood: More Than Abortion
PP Clinics Provide a Wide Range of Healthcare
Planned Parenthood gets a lot of grief for being an abortion clinic (from the so-called “pro-lifers” anyway). But what a lot of people don’t know is that Planned Parenthood provides a whole host of other services that have nothing to do with abortion.
The PP booth at the Nashville Women’s March in January 2025
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) was founded in 1916 by Margaret Sanger. When it was first founded, it served the community by providing birth control, advice and information about birth control. By the end of World War II, PPFA was also providing family planning services, including marriage counselling, infertility services and education about child spacing. PPFA is now the largest single provider of reproductive health services in the US!
Nowadays PP provides primary care and gender affirming care as well. Here is a list of the services PP provides (this varies by state):
Health Care Services (In-Person)
Wellness & Preventative Care
Problem Visits (e.g, UTI)
Hypertension management
STI Testing and Treatment (e.g., prescription meds, treatment for genital warts)
Annual Exams and Pap Smears
Pregnancy Testing & Planning, Ultrasounds for pregnancy dating
Prenatal & Postpartum Services
Birth Control (pills, shot, IUDs, implants)
Breast Exams and Mammogram referrals
Cervical Cancer Screenings
Vasectomy Services
Menopausal and Perimenopausal Care
Gender Affirming Hormone Care
HIV Testing & PrEP/PEP Services
HPV Vaccines
Sexual Health Education, Information, & Counseling
Colposcopy
Emergency Contraception (prescription and OTC)
Free Condoms (in person at our health centers & distributed to partners for pick-up at other locations)
Abortion Patient Travel & Financial Assistance
Traditional Telehealth (synchronous virtual visits)
Gender Affirming Hormone Care
Expansion to additional services is coming in July!
Offered statewide in TN
PP Direct (asynchronous telehealth app for self pay patients with medications delivered directly to your home)
Birth control pills, emergency contraception, UTI treatment, HSV treatment
PP Direct is provided statewide in both TN and MS
Yours truly speaking at the March for Our Lives press conference in October 2022
Planned Parenthood accepts most forms of commercial insurance. PP also places uninsured, self-pay patients on a sliding fee scale based on income and family size. I took advantage of this sliding scale when I was uninsured in college and medical school in order to have my yearly pap smears and birth control refilled.
In July 2025, Republicans in Congress and Trump defunded Planned Parenthood affiliates, disallowing the health centers from participating in Medicaid (Tenncare). This makes it harder for low income patients to access preventative health screenings and birth control. How can you help? By visiting a Planned Parenthood clinic for your healthcare needs and using your commercial insurance. It’s a great form of resistance! Your insurance company pays to provide care, and it gives PP income to support other patients who lack health insurance.
Here’s a great testimonial from a PP clinic patient: “I just completed a menopause visit and had a great experience. Got my cholesterol checked as part of the visit, which I really needed to do! And now I have a prescription for an estradiol patch, which I’m already thrilled to have. No more hot flashes!”
Another benefit of using Planned Parenthood as your clinic: PP uses Epic for their electronic medical records (EMR), so patients can enjoy the My Chart app on their phones to make appointments, communicate with their provider, check test results, pay their bill. Talk about convenient! Here in Tennessee, there are two PP clinics in Memphis, one in Nashville and one in Knoxville.
As you can see, Planned Parenthood is more than abortion. PP provides healthcare to a vulnerable portion of our population. Its clinics are essential. Do your part to help keep Planned Parenthood open and available by donating today!
And if you live in the Nashville area, you can support Planned Parenthood at our first ever Plant Parenthood plant sale! We’ll be in the lot next to Bongo Java East this Saturday, May 30th from 10a-2p with over 200 plants and a wide variety of pots for purchase. All proceeds from the sale do directly to Planned Parenthood of TN and North MS (PPTNM)!
Dr. Katrina Green, MD FAAEM, FAMWA is a board certified emergency physician, and public safety and health advocate in Nashville, TN.
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All of my early reproductive care was provided by Planned Parenthood, beginning during college in Philadelphia. SO grateful you were there and continue to offer an expanding range of services for women across Tennessee. STAY WELL and FIGHT BACK!!