Without a Planned Parenthood since 2015, Puebloans travel 50-plus miles for reproductive care

James Bartolo, The Pueblo Chieftain
·5 min read
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Clarification: The Planned Parenthood clinic in Pueblo provided abortion counseling and consultation, but was not a surgical or medication abortion site, according to Planned Parenthood representatives. That detail may have been unclear in the initial version of the story.

While several cities in Colorado are expected to become destinations for people seeking abortions, Puebloans continue to be 50 miles away from the closest Planned Parenthood.

Unlike states that have or are expected to ban abortion, Pueblo's lack of abortion consultation and services has little to do with the Supreme Court's June 24 decision.

In 2015, Pueblo's Planned Parenthood location, 955 U.S. 50 West, was forced to close after the building was sold to a new owner, the Pueblo Galleria LLC., who refused to renew the lease, according to a Jan. 2015 Pueblo Chieftain article. While the Pueblo location was not a surgical or medication abortion site, it did provide informed consent counseling for women who were scheduled to have an abortion at another location.

An agent with the Pueblo Galleria LLC. was contacted by the Chieftain for this article but did not comment on why the lease was not renewed.

Forced relocations of Planned Parenthood care centers may happen for various reasons, according to Adrienne Mansanares, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. There have been instances where locations move following opposition from surrounding businesses and landlords alike.

More:How political leaders representing Pueblo reacted to Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal

In this file photo, dozens of demonstrators gathered at the Pueblo County Courthouse for the Women's March for Southern Colorado on Oct. 2, 2021, in response to Texas' abortion law. Less than a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, prompting an uptick in people traveling to Colorado for abortion counseling and services. However, Pueblo has been without a Planned Parenthood since 2015, and some Puebloans travel 50 miles to the nearest Planned Parenthood location.

“Unfortunately, we do see landlords who let political or religious beliefs get in the way of our relationship,'' she said. “It’s not common, but it does happen.”

Some individuals from Pueblo seeking an abortion or to receive other reproductive health care services offered by Planned Parenthood travel about 50 miles to Colorado Springs, where around 500 patients from Pueblo are seen each year, Mansanares said. Some Puebloans travel as far as Alamosa, Durango or even Farmington, New Mexico, to receive care at Planned Parenthood locations.

“While we don’t have a health center on the grounds in Pueblo, we do have options,” Mansanares said. “I want to strongly encourage anyone in Pueblo who is seeking information about their pregnancy options to give us a call.”

Outside of informed consent counseling and abortion services, Planned Parenthood offers breast and cervical cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection testing, birth control prescriptions and other family planning services.

“We do still provide those services at our health center in Colorado Springs and when we do see people come up from Pueblo, it may be because their primary care provider has stopped providing services or the wait times in the public health department clinics are just and it’s easier to come out to Colorado Springs,” Mansanares said.

More:Biden administration says pharmacies cannot deny legally prescribed abortion medication

Less than a month after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, Colorado’s Planned Parenthood locations are already seeing an influx of patients coming in from neighboring states.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health care policy institute, 26 states are “certain or likely” to enact 6-week, 8-week, or near-total bans on abortion following the Supreme Court decision. The list of states possibly instituting bans include Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

“We absolutely are seeing more and more patients traveling, primarily from Texas and we are already starting to see patients from other states that banned abortion care like Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho and I imagine we will continue seeing them,” Mansanares said.

Colorado is one of six states where there is no gestational age restriction on abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Pueblo County Health Department’s Family Planning Clinic doing what they can to reduce unplanned pregnancies 

Due to its Title X federal funding, the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment's Family Planning Clinic is unable to perform abortions, but the department is working to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, especially in teens and young adults.

Historically, Pueblo County has seen high rates of teen pregnancies. However, rates have decreased significantly in the past decade, according to Jody Carrillo, interim program manager at the PDPHE Family Planning Clinic.

In 2009, there were 348 births among 15- to 19-year-olds in Pueblo County. Six years later, the number of teen pregnancies was reduced nearly 64% to 151 births. Carrillo said the decrease in teen pregnancies was largely a result of introducing long-acting reversible contraceptives to the Family Planning Clinic and other health care providers in Pueblo County.

More:House Democrats pass abortion bill codifying Roe v Wade without Republican support

Unlike birth control pills, long-acting reversible contraceptives such as intrauterine devices and hormonal contraceptive implants may be effective for anywhere from three to 10 years, depending on the type. Devices can be "expensive, if not unattainable," for low-income without the clinic's sliding fee scale for contraceptives, Carrillo said.

"Family Planning and birth control services are on a sliding fee scale, including little to no fees for youth and confidential patients," according to the PDPHE Family Planning Clinic website. "The sliding fee scale is dependent on your income and how many people you support. Sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment will be associated with low-cost fees."

Other contraceptive options offered by the clinic include oral contraceptives, Depo-Provera injections, condoms, diaphragms, vaginal rings and patches. The clinic also provides educational presentations, STI testing, pregnancy testing and cancer screening among other services.

"Services provided by the Family Planning clinic will be critical to prevent unintended pregnancy," Carrillo said. "It is vital for a female of reproductive age to have control of their health, be provided education and access to quality services and contraceptive."

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached by email at JBartolo@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Without a Planned Parenthood in Pueblo, those seeking abortions travel