Yvonne Gutierrez, VP of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, presented at the 2013 Latino Policy Summit.

1. Planned Parenthood
• 5 affiliates in Texas provide care to nearly 260,000 Texans a year
• Planned Parenthood affiliates operate nearly 800 health centers nationwide,
providing medical services and sexuality education for millions of women,
men, and teenagers each year
• Our mission is to increase access to reproductive healthcare and sexuality
education, and to advocate for the right of every person to receive these
services
• One in five women in the US has been to a Planned Parenthood at some
point in her life
• Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading sexual and reproductive health
care provider and advocate

2. Who We Serve
• Our typical client
– Female 20-35 years old
– 2/3 of client population identify as women of color (Latina
– 40%, Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Pacific
Islander, Multiracial, or Other)
– Employed but not insured
– Planned Parenthood is often her only source of healthcare
– Of the 3 million patients PP cares for nationwide, 1/3 are
Latino.
• We provide services to men, too!

3. What We Do
• 95% of our services are basic gynecology
– Well-woman care
– Follow up to abnormal Pap smears—colposcopy,
LEEP/cryotherapy
– Testing and/or treatment for a range of conditions—STIs,
blood pressure, diabetes
– Prescriptions from on-site pharmacies— birth control,
antibiotics
– Medical and social service referrals
• Sexual health education to help young people remain
healthy

4. Women’s Health in Texas
• Highest percent of uninsured women—30% (CDC)
• One of the top 10 highest rates of cervical cancer (CDC).
Latino women contract cervical cancer at twice the rate of
non-Hispanic whites, making pap smears and regular women’s
health screenings particularly important.
• 56% of births paid for by Medicaid program
– $2.7 billion in SFY2009 (DSHS)
• Every $1 spent on family planning saves $4 in prenatal,
delivery and first-year infant care paid for by Medicaid
(Guttmacher Institute)

5. Latinas and Access to Health Care
•
In the US between 2000 and 2008, the number of women in need of
family planning services who were Hispanic increased by 27%, and the
number who were black increased by 11.5%, while the number who were
white decreased by less than 1%.
•
About three-quarters of poor women, women who are uninsured, African
American and Latina women and those who were born outside the United
States who obtain care from a family planning center consider the center
to be their usual source of medical care.
•
While Latinos represent 16.7 percent of the population nationwide, nearly
40 percent of Texans are Latino.
•
In Texas, 46% of Hispanic women are uninsured compared to 17.5% of
White women.
Guttmacher, May 2012

6. Latinas and Access to Health Care
Latinos face greater obstacles to obtaining, and benefiting from, sexual and reproductive health
services than non-Latino white Americans. As a result, Latinos experience higher rates of
reproductive cancers, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections than most
other groups of people in the U.S. For example:
REPRODUCTIVE CANCERS
•Latinas are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer than women of any other racial or
ethnic group — one and a half times as likely as non-Latina white women (ACS, 2012).
•Latinas have the third highest death rates from cervical cancer (ACS, 2012).
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS
•Latinos contract HIV at nearly three times the rate of non-Latino whites (CDC, 2012a).
•The rate of gonorrhea for Latinos is double that of non-Latino whites (CDC, 2012b).
• The rate of chlamydia among Latinos is more than twice as high as it is for non-Latino whites
(CDC, 2012b).
Approximately 20 percent of Latinas have not visited a physician in the last year, and one-third
of Latinas do not have a regular health care provider (KFF, 2011b).

7. Latinas and Access to Health Care
UNINTENDED PREGNANCY
•Fifty-three percent of pregnancies among Latinas are unintended, and four in 10 of
these pregnancies end in abortion (Finer and Zolna, 2011).
•Latina adolescents give birth at a rate more than twice that of white non-Latina teens
(Hamilton et al., 2012). Latino teens are about 1.5 times more likely to have a repeat
teen birth, compared to non-Latino white teens (Gavin et al., 2013).
•Latina adolescents are at a much higher risk of pregnancy because they have
significantly lower rates of contraceptive use (Mosher, 2010).
•Latina adolescents are less likely to use contraception because they are less able to
afford birth control and less likely to have health insurance (Fuentes et al., 2010; U.S.
Census Bureau, 2012).
•Latinas are more likely to live in areas with poor access to family planning services
(Fuentes et al., 2010).

8. Planned Parenthood and the ACA
Opponents of the law are spending 5 times as much money attacking it as
supporters are promoting it.
The majority of the education and enrollment research is focused on men.
PPFA research shows that women are not prepared for a conversation about
enrollment and are skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true.
Organizing, outreach, and education needs to be the foundation of our work in order
to provide basic facts on the law, the marketplace, the mandate, and the resources
that PP can provide. Women want PP to provide them with understanding of the
law, unbiased information, reassurance that we will be there no matter what, and to
learn which plans accept PP.

9. Planned Parenthood and the ACA
Under Obamacare, 4.9 million Latinas with private health insurance have guaranteed
access to women’s preventive services without cost sharing. In Texas, more than 1.8
million women qualify for the ACA.
Our message:
•The health care law, sometimes called “Obamacare”, makes health insurance more
affordable for millions of people, and says most Americans need to get insurance.
•Planned Parenthood is here to help you figure out what the law means for you. For
nearly 100 years, we have provided quality, affordable health care and that's not
changing.
•Go to PlannedParenthoodHealthInsuranceFacts.org for what to consider in
choosing a health insurance plan, how to get help paying for it and how to enroll.

10. Planned Parenthood and the ACA
Under Obamacare, 4.9 million Latinas with private health insurance have guaranteed
access to women’s preventive services without cost sharing. In Texas, more than 1.8
million women qualify for the ACA.
Our message:
•The health care law, sometimes called “Obamacare”, makes health insurance more
affordable for millions of people, and says most Americans need to get insurance.
•Planned Parenthood is here to help you figure out what the law means for you. For
nearly 100 years, we have provided quality, affordable health care and that's not
changing.
•Go to PlannedParenthoodHealthInsuranceFacts.org for what to consider in
choosing a health insurance plan, how to get help paying for it and how to enroll.