Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA), along with government and education officials, recently announced plans to “create a safe space” on 50 high school campuses across L.A. County where students can receive “social, emotional, and sexual health” services, including “pregnancy options counseling.”
The program is a partnership between PPLA, L.A. County, and the L.A. Unified School District, establishing “Wellbeing Centers” throughout the nation’s second-largest public education system, where more than 600,000 pupils are enrolled. According to the Washington Post, “five of the Planned Parenthood centers opened a few weeks into the school year” and “the rest are to be added before June.”
Yesterday, @PPLosAngeles announced the opening of the first five of 50 High School Wellbeing Centers. This groundbreaking program means that students don’t have to worry about missing school just to access the quality health care, education, and resources they need. https://t.co/fNvkGMwZrd
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFA) December 12, 2019
“Finding support to grapple with these issues generally requires students to go off campus and means time away from class, money for transportation, and explaining your whereabouts to others, all hurdles that loom large for teens,” said Sue Dunlap, PPLA President and CEO.
A supervising health educator involved with the project told The Los Angeles Times that part of the objective is to “offer the students another set of caring adults to whom they can come with those strange life questions.”
The Times reported, “the centers include reproductive health clinics where students can get birth control pills and condoms,” noting that California law allows minors older than 12 to obtain contraceptives without parental consent. A teenager interviewed by the outlet saidshe decided to start the birth control pill after receiving counseling at one of the high schools. The centers are part of an initiative funded by PPLA and the L.A. County departments of public health and mental health, the report said, costing “at least $12 million” the first year.
A Planned Parenthood press release explained that the on-campus facilities seek “to create a safe space in each school where students can receive the education and health services they need to lead healthy lives,” and:
Clinicians from PPLA will provide a range of sexual health services one day a week, including testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), emergency contraception and birth control counseling and provision, well-person exams, pregnancy testing, and pregnancy options counseling.
Each Center is also staffed by two DPH (Dept of Public Health) Master’s level Youth Educators, who will facilitate classes, support groups, and activities aimed at equipping teens with information about substance use prevention, behavioral health, and sexual health, as well as the skills they need to have healthy relationships, protect their health, and plan for the future. Through in-Center and in-classroom activities, the Youth Educators deliver an age-appropriate, evidence-informed curriculum that complies with California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA) requirements with added emphasis on behavioral health, substance use, and social and emotional well-being.
The press release adds, PPLA “will provide skill building sessions on campus in both English and Spanish for parents and family members around behavioral health, substance abuse prevention, and sexual health and relationships.”
The L.A. Times observed operations at the PPLA-run center at Esteban Torres High School in East L.A.:
On Fridays, students can see a Planned Parenthood nurse or physician assistant in a “modular clinic” with an exam table, thick makeshift walls and a white noise machine for privacy. Tuesdays through Thursdays, students can visit the well-being center next door, greeted by cute stuffed sloths, with a soft blanket on comfy chairs that are pushed together to resemble a sofa. Signs in the room promise a safe space and an explanation of what defines sexual consent: “Freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, specific.”
PPLA describes itself as “one of the largest providers of reproductive health care services in Los Angeles County,” citing more than 250,000 patient visits last year.