Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe vs. Wade has widespread effects, including for family planning providers who don’t offer abortion services, like the Pueblo Department of Public Health Family Planning Clinic.
The SCOTUS decision makes their family planning services even more critical, said clinic manager Jody Carrillo, “to counsel women to be proactive in their reproductive health care and to become pregnant when they choose to, when it's planned, and it's something that they wholeheartedly want to do.”
She said while they can’t make abortion referrals because of their Title 10 federal funding, they’ll be working to make sure people know what their options are to prevent pregnancy and to provide access to different types of birth control.
The clinic offers a variety of other related services for all genders including cancer screening, pap smears, sexually transmitted infection treatment and pre-pregnancy counseling.
“Take care of your health,” Carrillo said, “by seeking out family planning services to be able to control what happens to your life, (and by) making good choices and doing what you need to prevent pregnancy.”
People who need abortion services in southeastern Colorado will likely find that their primary options are Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs or medication abortions provided via telehealth.
