There are two Planned Parenthood locations in the state of Arkansas, one in Rogers and the other in Little Rock. Many parts of the state, especially rural areas, lack clinics and healthcare facilities that offer vital services and counseling. This issue is especially prevalent in Arkansas and other states where there are significant political barriers to reproductive health. Despite that, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Emily Wales said it is a problem nationwide.
"We've seen an overwhelming amount of confusion and concern from patients in the last couple of years in the fallout of the loss of abortion access," Wales said, "You know, especially in Arkansas, where we had abortion provisions available up until the last day up until the decision came down. Patients remain confused about what types of contraception or legal emergency contraception and also just what steps they can take to control their reproductive health and their futures. Vasectomy has come up again and again in the last couple of years, and so we've tried to be thoughtful, be innovative and help patients access care. And this is definitely a way that patients feel they can exercise some control and and plan what they want their families to look like."
Planned Parenthood Great Plains launched vasectomy services last year at its Tulsa, Oklahoma health center. Since then, they’ve expanded to hosting clinics throughout Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri. Wales said there seems to be a general misconception that birth control is a gendered conversation, meaning the responsibility lies on the woman alone. While the most common forms of prescribed birth control include IUDs, implants or pills for female-identifying patients, Wales said that is very far from the truth.
"The amazing thing we've seen since we launched vasectomy services in the last year and a half is that we have male patients, male identifying patients who absolutely want to help make their families and their partners lives easier," Wales said. "And one way they can do that is by saying, 'I want to also contribute to the contraception choices we have'. And for a lot of patients, vasectomy is a great solution. It may be that their partner has issues with different types of contraception, or they just know they don't have any intention of having kids in the future. And so this can be a quick, relatively easy and minor procedure that can help make a long term plan a whole lot easier to attain."
Wales said the state of Arkansas is dealing with one of the “cruelest” abortion bans in the entire country, with almost no exception for emergency care. Arkansas has implemented several restrictive laws regarding general reproductive healthcare, including mandatory waiting periods, counseling requirements, and extreme limitations on abortion providers like Planned Parenthood Great Plains. Wales said these limits, in addition to the national pressure on abortion and reproductive health, have left a lot of patients feeling confused and concerned.
"People don't realize that our health centers never provided emergency care," Wales said, "And still hospitals and emergency rooms are confused about the state of the law. We still get calls to our Arkansas facilities asking if folks can come in and get abortions, and often they think if they explain the reasons, all of which are valid and understandable, there will somehow be an exception for them. It may be that they can't afford to add to their family or they've had medical complications in this pregnancy or a prior pregnancy. And we continue to explain, 'No, a ban is a ban as a ban, we cannot help you access care, here in Arkansas, but we do everything we can to explain where care is legal and try to help people get the care they should deserve'. And that really should be local. You know, Planned Parenthood, especially in conservative states or red states, there's often a perception that, you know, people are scared to come in. But we don't see that. The brand of having confidential, high quality services really surpasses the politics locally. And people do come from sometimes really concerningly far distances to get care at our health centers. So you're absolutely right when there are only a couple of places they they have to travel, but we want to do everything we can to be there."
Wales said the vasectomy clinic was a huge success, so much so that they’re planning on hosting more in the future. The clinic in Rogers was made possible through the support of donors, and no patient will pay more than $250 for their procedure, with additional options for no-cost care for those who qualify.
"It was incredible how many people called and asked questions," Wales said. "I think once patients realize that we're doing everything we can to make care accessible and affordable, we had an outpouring of requests and so we are working right now to schedule another day or two of vasectomy care. We want to make it as regular as we can, because people have lives and they're trying to fit healthcare in. But patients are willing to go out of their way, especially for something that's often expensive, or they don't know where to turn for care. And so we will be back with another second clinic in the future, I promise. Since it was the first clinic, it's a bit of trying out to see what the community need is and what the demand is. And we ended up providing just under 30 procedures over two days, which really speaks to how many patients are trying to get the care. We booked out both days, and we're thrilled and so it's one of the reasons we know we'll have to be back."
In addition to reproductive health, Planned Parenthood Great Plains in Rogers also offers STI and HIV testing and treatment, emergency contraception (morning-after pill), pregnancy testing and services, gender-affirming care, and primary care. For more information on future vasectomy clinics at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains Rogers location, you can visit their website. To support the national Planned Parenthood organization, there are ways to donate and volunteer locally at the national website.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline by reporters. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
