Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri says it’s merging with its central Oklahoma counterpart and will be renamed Planned Parenthood Great Plains effective July 1.
The combined affiliates will operate nine clinics in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and will be headquartered in Kansas City, according to a news release from PPKM.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity to combine two well-established reproductive and sexual health care providers under one system, which will reach more women and men who need crucial preventive health care,” Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri President and CEO, Laura McQuade said in the release.
“The merger strengthens our mission to provide health care to diverse communities with different and changing needs.”
McQuade will lead Planned Parenthood Great Plains as its president and CEO.
The combination comes as Planned Parenthood fights attempts by Kansas to strip it of Medicaid funds. Gov. Sam Brownback vowed in his State-of-the-State address to defund the organization, and the state took steps to do so in May. Planned Parenthood sued to block the move the next day. The case is now scheduled to be heard by a federal judge in June.
In Missouri, the organization scored a victory earlier this month when a federal judge ruled that Missouri’s attempt to revoke the abortion license of its clinic in Columbia was unconstitutional.
And in Oklahoma it’s facing a hostile legislature that recently passed a bill making it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion, except where the mother’s life is at stake. Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed the bill last week, saying it was vague and unconstitutional.
Planned Parenthood plans to open a new clinic in Oklahoma City, giving it three in the area.
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri also recently announced plans to expand into three new health service areas this year, including pre- and post-menopausal care, transgender care, and PrEp care, a preventative that lowers the chance of contracting HIV for patients who have a high risk of infection.
Dan Margolies, editor of the Heartland Health Monitor team, is based at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
