Summary

Breakthroughs in women’s healthcare and family planning by Planned Parenthood are among the biggest economic and social advancements in the past 100 years, leading to cultural shifts such as enabling women to become nearly half the American workforce, the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of American homes, and more than half of all American college students, and these advancements have transformed the fabric of American society for the better

Story

 WHEREAS, on October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger, Ethel Byrne, and Fania Mindell took the groundbreaking and revolutionary act of opening the first birth control health clinic, founded on the idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and to fulfill their dreams; and

WHEREAS, this first clinic was eventually merged with others to become Planned Parenthood, which over the subsequent century promoted gains in access to birth control, safe and legal abortion, and other reproductive health services; and

WHEREAS, these breakthroughs in women’s healthcare and family planning by Planned Parenthood are among the biggest economic and social advancements in the past 100 years, leading to cultural shifts such as enabling women to become nearly half the American workforce, the sole or primary breadwinners in 40 percent of American homes, and more than half of all American college students, and these advancements have transformed the fabric of American society for the better; and

WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of sexual health education in the United States, and last year its education programs reached 7,585 people in classrooms, juvenile justice centers, health fairs, and teen councils across the County; and

WHEREAS, in a single year, Planned Parenthood clinics provide sexual and reproductive healthcare, education, information, and outreach to 2.5 million women, men, and adolescents in the United States, including nearly 44,000 visits to health centers in King County alone in 2015; and

WHEREAS, under threat of having to close clinics across the County, in 2014, Seattle-King County Public Health and Planned Parenthood announced a new, innovative partnership to assure access to family planning services for low-income families in White Center and West Seattle; and

WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood is a safety-net provider that reaches medically underserved people who are critically in need of compassionate care, and for many people, a Planned Parenthood clinic may be the only place they can turn to for healthcare; and

WHEREAS, Planned Parenthood’s commitment to offer care and resources, from abortion to the preventive care that makes up 96% of the services it provides, has remained an essential thread in the fabric of society over the past century;

NOW, THEREFORE, we, the Metropolitan King County Council, proclaim October 16, 2016, as

in King County, as Planned Parenthood enters into its second century, ready to assist millions of women, men, and young people in accessing the healthcare they need and deserve, no matter who they are or where they live.

DATED this seventeenth day of October, 2016.