Planned Parenthood in El Paso moves into new, bigger health center

by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert

November 12, 2024

Planned Parenthood in El Paso opened the doors to its new, expanded facility Tuesday morning at 1061 Chelsea St.

The nonprofit relocated its reproductive health center about 4.5miles east of its old location in Central El Paso. It remains the only Planned Parenthood clinic in West Texas.

Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, spoke at a private event in October celebrating the clinic’s new facility. 

“What we’ve learned over the years is women will put everybody in their lives – their children, their spouses, their partners, their parents – ahead of themselves,” Lambrecht said. “And what ends up happening is in two to three years, when something goes wrong, they come in and it’s not just one issue. … So what we’re trying to do is break that cycle and encourage specifically women to come in as fast as you can for preventative care so that we can keep people healthy.”

Since its opening in 2018, Planned Parenthood in El Paso has seen more than 11,000 patients – more than 2,000 of which were male – for appointments including contraception, STI testing, gender affirmation treatment and screening for breast and cervical cancer. The clinic also provides HPV vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer, and PrEP and PEP medications to prevent HIV.

Miranda Aguirre, health center manager for Planned Parenthood in El Paso, said the last four years have been unprecedented for reproductive health care providers. The clinic stayed open through the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, but added and continues to offer telehealth services, she said.

Then in 2021, the Texas state government removed Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding after years of trying to shut it down. That same year, the state passed Senate Bill 8, which limited abortions to as early as six weeks into pregnancy.

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court – which then-President Donald Trump turned into a conservative supermajority – overturned Roe v. Wade. This triggered Texas to outlaw abortions in almost all circumstances and banned Planned Parenthood, other medical clinics and hospitals across El Paso from providing this health service.

A year later, Texas sued Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas for more than $1.8 billion in an attempt to bankrupt it. The case was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and still pending a decision.

“Our El Paso health center is crucial,” Aguirre said. “We’re often the main health care provider and source of sexual health education for undocumented, uninsured, low-income, transgender and immigrant patients who may not seek health care or afford other options.”

‘I felt like I was seen’

Planned Parenthood purchased a vacant lot in El Paso about two years ago and began construction on the 4,800-square-foot building in 2023. Donors, including two anonymous Texas foundations, contributed to the $5 million investment, said spokesperson Autumn Williams.

The new facility has three exam rooms and two patient consultation rooms. It also has an on-site pharmacy, an in-house lab that conducts rapid STI testing and a new ultrasound machine to guide the placement and removal of IUDs, a T-shaped contraceptive device that’s inserted into the uterus.

Planned Parenthood in El Paso employs several medical assistants and one nurse practitioner, who is overseen by a physician based in Austin. The clinic accepts private insurance and charges patients based on a pay scale, but does not turn away patients who cannot pay for services, medication or contraception, Aguirre said.

Preventing unplanned pregnancy is more critical now than ever in Texas, Aguirre said. Planned Parenthood gives patients the option to take a year’s worth of prescription birth control pills home with them so they don’t have to wait on a prescription refill or go to a pharmacy every few months.

Donna Pliego, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, said she uses birth control pills to manage her painful periods after she visited Planned Parenthood this past summer.

Pliego was removed from her parent’s health insurance last year when she turned 18 and previously saw a pediatrician who didn’t believe Pliego when she said her periods were extremely painful. Her doctor prescribed her 800 mg ibuprofen, the maximum strength an adult can take per dose.

She couldn’t bring up birth control with her pediatrician when she was younger because she was worried her doctor would tell her family, and her family would think it was just an excuse to have sex.

“When I was younger there was a lot of skepticism around my period,” Pliego said. “Like ‘Is that really why it hurts? How do you know when you’re just a kid?’ That was really concerning for me until when I came here (to Planned Parenthood), I felt like I was seen. Every single one of my complaints were taken care of.”

History of Planned Parenthood in El Paso

Planned Parenthood provides health care services at low to no cost. About 24% of El Paso residents under the age of 65 do not have health insurance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

The organization’s history in El Paso dates back to 1937, when reproductive rights advocates set up a birth control clinic in the city. Planned Parenthood of El Paso eventually closed in 2009 after years of financial struggle, leaving West Texas without a Planned Parenthood clinic for nearly a decade.

With the help of more than $10 million from two anonymous donors, Planned Parenthood returned to El Paso in 2018. By then the state government had already begun cutting the organization off from various sources of state and federal funding.

State legislators removed Planned Parenthood from a program that provides government-subsidized breast and cervical cancer screenings to low-income patients.

Low-income patients can also no longer use Medicaid to get health services at Planned Parenthood. More than 152,000 people in El Paso County are enrolled in Medicaid, according to Texas Health and Human Services.

Meanwhile, Texas lawmakers have poured millions of dollars into the Alternatives to Abortion program, recently rebranded as Thriving Texas Families. The program funds crisis pregnancy centers – anti-abortion centers that provide counseling, parenting classes, adoption referrals and resources such as diapers, often with a religious agenda.

Also known as pregnancy resource centers, these organizations do not have to be licensed health care facilities to provide services such as pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. They may share inaccurate medical information to persuade people away from having an abortion or using contraception.

Planned Parenthood continues to provide family planning consultations, but under state law – which criminalizes people for “aiding and abetting” abortions – can no longer refer or advise patients who are seeking abortions.

Aguirre remembered how frustrating it felt when two pregnant, teenage patients had come to Planned Parenthood with their parents this past year to ask for where to go for an abortion. Legally, the clinicians could not recommend any clinic, Aguirre said.

Planned Parenthood cannot give health care advice to people seeking terminations for medical reasons either, Aguirre added.

“A lot of these pregnancies are very much planned and very much wanted, but unfortunately, something happened that if carried to term, it’s not going to be a viable and healthy pregnancy,” Aguirre said. “A lot of these women are going through these horrible decisions that they’re having to make, and there’s so many of us that could just offer them that support but we can’t.”

Talking reproductive health

Outside the clinic, Planned Parenthood also leads “puberty parties” for children to learn about puberty and consent in an age-appropriate way, as well as sex education workshops for all ages including parents. Planned Parenthood does not provide these workshops in K-12 schools, but partners with community members including parent groups and student-led groups at UTEP.

“What we hear loud and clear is we are needed in this space to tell the truth about safety, about bodies, about options, about puberty – basic things every person has the right to know about their body,” said Xochitl Rodriguez, philanthropy and community affairs officer for Planned Parenthood in El Paso.

Brianna Cooper, a 22-year-old community board member at Planned Parenthood in El Paso, said she and her peers never received sex education at their high school in El Paso, just an STI slideshow presented by a gym teacher and an abstinence-only talk. Cooper said she didn’t receive sex education until she began working with Planned Parenthood.

Talking about reproductive health isn’t part of the culture she grew up with, Cooper said. She recalled how she felt judged when people in religious organizations found out she was taking birth control pills. Cooper was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, when she was 16. She continued to suffer through debilitating pain and inconsistent periods, and didn’t take birth control pills for treatment until years later because of the stigma, Cooper said.

“To go to a provider that I trust and wholeheartedly support, and can know I’m getting true, factual, scientific-based information, is invaluable to me,” Cooper said. “I’m finally in control of my health and helping others take control too.”

Along with pap smears, hormonal contraception and STI testing, Planned Parenthood in El Paso provides free condoms in discreet bags, pregnancy testing and emergency contraception. The clinic provides treatment for STIs, including syphilis, which is on the rise in El Paso.

While people perceive Planned Parenthood as serving mostly young women, the clinic also serves men and older people, Aguirre said. Planned Parenthood is working on training for hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women.

The new El Paso facility also has a larger administrative and community gathering space so health advocates can gather, organize and facilitate their own workshops, Rodriguez said.

“Right now we’re talking about post-election, but Planned Parenthood in reality has been in a really volatile space for decades,” Rodriguez said. “We are not new to administrations that are frankly unfriendly to folks who need access to basic health care.”

“While the struggle and stripping away of rights of queer folks and women is not new, what I do know is – we can’t back down,” Rodriguez continued. “In a way, in El Paso especially, this new Planned Parenthood is a symbol of hope and our commitment to do whatever we need to do to ensure people have the care they need and education this moment requires.”