Note: The transcript of this interview provided below has been edited for style and concision. For this reason, it may deviate in part from the video.
Neta Meltzer is the Director of Strategic Communications for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wyoming. PPRM is listed as an official TelAbortion provider.
Harvard Political Review: As the Director of Strategic Communications for PPRM, can you describe what your position entails and what the most popular services provided are at PPRM? How many locations does PPRM have across Colorado, New Mexico, Southern Nevada and Wyoming?
Neta Meltzer: My position is really telling the story of what Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountain does to all of the audiences that need to know that information. So I oversee the conversations that we have with folks like you in the media, our digital presence with our followers and our patients, and really help to make sure that all of the work that we’re doing — all of the activism that we’re involved with and just everything that we’re doing to provide and protect reproductive rights — all of those stories are getting out there and that people are able to access healthcare and know what they need to do in order to help us protect that care. We have 24 [PPRM locations]: we have 18 in Colorado, four in New Mexico, and two in Southern Nevada right now.
HPR: In broad terms, how is the coronavirus pandemic impacting PPRM’s provision of health services? To what extent are your clinics across the region being impacted in similar ways and are there any state-to-state differences that have become apparent in the experiences of your locations across the region?
NM: It’s really interesting because on the one hand, the pandemic is impacting everyone and everything: every type of business, every healthcare provider, every individual and every family. And so you’re seeing impacts everywhere, but certainly they look different depending on who or what you’re looking at. For us, it has really made us shift how we’re providing our care and lean into some of the ways that we’ve already kind of been pivoting a little bit more than we maybe have been in the past. So what I mean by that is certainly, we have changed the way that a patient comes in and gets their health care in our health centers. We are incorporating physical distancing, to the extent that we can in our waiting rooms. We’re doing a lot of our intake remotely so that folks can do as much of the visit remotely as possible except for whatever actually physically has to happen in the health center — so taking those histories, having those conversations, [we’re] trying to do as much of that remotely as we can. For a time, we’re really prioritizing time-sensitive, urgent types of appointments — and really just making sure that if you are leaving your home, you’re doing so because you absolutely have to. Knowing that across all of our region our states, for a time at least, were under stay-at-home orders, we were working within those orders. And we’ve really been leaning on telehealth, which is something that we had already been doing in different ways. We have kind of just ramped that up and really tried to shift folks to those services, if those are options for what they’re looking for, so that we can make sure that we are still able to provide care that people really rely on, no matter where folks are and no matter what’s happening with the pandemic.
HPR: In the midst of the pandemic, many states have taken action to effectively ban or severely restrict access to abortion. Just last month, NPR reported that an abortion ban in Texas led to an influx of patients in Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Can you speak to what this influx of patients has looked like on the ground for your clinics? How is PPRM working to address the needs of these patients?
NM: On the ground, it looks like we had less than 20 patients from Texas come to our health centers in our Rocky Mountain region in February. And by the time I ran the numbers for April, it was over 200. So that really shows you that what’s happening in the state legislatures has a direct, tangible impact for patients and for people’s lives. People came to us when they couldn’t access health care at home and that’s something that for our region, we’ve seen that dynamic in action in the past. Anytime a restriction or some kind of complication is put into place that prevents somebody from accessing care, the Rocky Mountain region is often considered a safe haven for care. We are able to see patients; we don’t have a lot of restrictions that make it so that people have to jump through hoops and do all these unnecessary additional steps just to get the health care that they’re trying to access. And so that’s been real for us even before the pandemic. But as you can see from the numbers that I just cited, [it’s] even more so [the case] when a neighboring state is imposing a restriction. We see patients coming in, and it’s up to us to serve them. We recognize our status as a safe-haven region for reproductive health care. We’re intent on protecting that for our patients locally and for those beyond our borders as well.
HPR: Currently, demand for abortion by telemedicine is surging. What has it been like for PPRM in Colorado and New Mexico as a TelAbortion provider at this time? To what extent have your clinics been experiencing this overall increase in TelAbortion demand?
NM: Yeah, there has been an increase … in interest. We participate in the TelAbortion study and so some qualified patients are able to access medication and abortion remotely, completely remotely from the comfort of their home or wherever it is that they are. And I know that there has been increased interest in that and folks coming to our region in order to be able to access that because that’s not something that’s necessarily available everywhere. And so we’re definitely seeing that way of accessing care — the interest in that has really grown. The other thing I’ll also mention is that we already had in existence what we call our PP Direct App, where folks could access birth control or UTI treatment using an app. So they’re contacting us with an app. They’re filling out some information; we’ve got a clinician looking over their information. And for those who qualify, we’re able to either mail birth control to their home, or send a UTI treatment prescription to the pharmacy of their choosing, and they never have to come in; they never have to leave the house. And so, those are the types of offerings [we’re providing during the pandemic] and as we navigate a post-coronavirus world, I anticipate those types of offerings will be in higher demand and even more services will become available through telehealth. It’s really the way of the future, and it’s something that’s really important to us because one thing that’s a real mission for us is to meet our patients where they are and to make healthcare as accessible as possible to remove barriers to access as much as we can. Telehealth has been just an amazing way to really do those things, and just has not been more critical than it is in this moment right now.
Note: According to Meltzer, PPRM has seen double the amount of overall interest in the TelAbortion study since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and is currently experiencing four times the number of enrollments in the study as it did in January.
HPR: To what extent do you think changing policies around abortion access right now are a feature of the moment versus indicative of a long-term trend? What does preserving women’s access to abortion look like during the current pandemic and beyond?
NM: That is a really interesting question because it’s really both things. We always say Planned Parenthood has been around for over 100 years. Our affiliate has been around for over 104 years, starting in 1916. And we’ve seen our ups and downs. We’ve seen attacks on healthcare. We’ve been through administrations and local legislatures that are really friendly and those that are just really opposed to letting people access reproductive health care. And so it has been a back and forth, and we’ve navigated through it all. … We intend to be here for our patients no matter what — we always say “We’re here no matter what.” And that’s really something that’s true to our hearts. And so, I think it’s both. The attacks that we’re seeing in reproductive health care are something that we’ve really navigated constantly. In the last several years we’ve seen an enormous number of restrictions coming about in neighboring states and throughout the country, trying to limit abortion care [and] access. So it’s not new. But I do think that it’s pretty clear to us that this pandemic and this moment in time is also being used to further a political agenda, and we simply can’t allow that. We worked very closely with the governor’s offices in the states in which we operate, and we made sure … that [abortion] care was understood as essential. It can’t wait. It’s time-sensitive. And so we really have been able to work in our region to secure the availability of reproductive health care, but you know, it’s not lost on us that other leaders and other states are using this as an opportunity to further an agenda that takes away our ability to decide what to do with our bodies.
HPR: What do you think will be the biggest takeaway from this pandemic for PPRM in terms of the role it plays as a provider of and advocate for reproductive healthcare and rights?
NM: I know that there will be incredible lessons learned from what we’re experiencing right now. And I also know that we do not anticipate the world necessarily looking like it did before. And so I think the biggest takeaway for us will be that we will learn from having listened to our patients and our communities, and being able to respond in how we provide services and how we reach them and how we provide the education that we’ve been providing for so many years — [as well as] in the ways that we engage in advocacy and the types of advocacy that we provide. We will learn from our communities what is needed, and we will pivot just like we always have. We will shift our strategies because ultimately, our patients are at the heart of everything that we do. … And in the new normal, whatever that may look like, our goal is to always meet [our patients’] needs, even as those things change and look different.
HPR: Before we end, is there anything else you want our readers to know?
NM: I would love for the readers to just know that we are still here. Our doors are still open here in the Rocky Mountain region. And I know that a lot of Planned Parenthoods across the country would say the same. You know, we’re seeing shifts in what things are looking like on the ground. But our goal has always been and always will be to meet the needs of our communities, to be here for our patients, and to provide the highest quality care that we know our patients deserve and look to us for. I would also just say that reproductive health care, including abortion care, is essential care. It can’t wait. It is health care, and health care is a human right and never have our human rights been more important. So just know that Planned Parenthood is standing up for that. We’re standing with our patients, and we’re here.