NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Months after federal officials closed the door to Tennessee's family planning funding, some local clinics received $4 million to serve people in Nashville at free and reduced cost.
The President of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi says the money is vital because it allows more people to get help, especially those with lower incomes. Services may include getting birth control, STD testing or screenings for cervical and breast cancer at health centers in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville. They've added a number of new services for both men and women.
"Following the Dobbs decision, and the loss of abortion services in TN, we have added other services. for example, we have added vasectomy services in Memphis and Nashville, to meet the needs that people have today. We have also added some primary care services and we've added a new app called PP Direct, that allows for home delivery of birth control,” said Ashley Coffield, the President of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi.
These new services come after the state was disqualified from funding in April of this year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, because they couldn't discuss abortion services anymore. Coffield says the last time Title 10 services were offered in Nashville was in 2012.
Planned Parenthood has served 375 patients at their Tennessee locations since November 29th. Coffield says now more people can be helped with a variety of services.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
