Every one of us is impacted

These days, we talk about “misinformation, “different sets of facts,” and “gaslighting” as if we can create our own reality if we repeat the words often enough. People fear what they don’t know. It’s easier to vilify people if they don’t have names, if they aren’t the people you meet at the grocery store, the coffee shop or the school parking lot.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is the largest affiliate of Planned Parenthood in the country, serving 309,000 patients across northern California and Nevada in 2024. Planned Parenthood Mar Monte provides a wide variety of health care services and often is the only health care provider to which a young or low-income person has access.

Here are irrefutable facts about the services Planned Parenthood Mar Monte provides with which no one can disagree.   

• Wellness and preventive care;

• Vaccines;

• Birth control and emergency contraception;

• Sexual and reproductive concerns;

• Pregnancy testing and planning;

• STI testing and treatment;

• HIV services;

• Abortion; and

• Gender-affirming care.

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte serves patients of all ethnicities, ages, incomes and genders. Roughly 20% of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte patients are men.

Up until last week, there were three Planned Parenthood Mar Monte health centers in San Mateo County that served more than 23,000 patients in 2024:

• San Mateo: 38% of services (closed last week);

• Redwood City: 32% of services; and

• South San Francisco: 30% of services (closed last week).

2024 Planned Parenthood Mar Monte Services By The Numbers In Our County:

• Patient visits: 23,283;

• Medi-Cal patients: 1,098;

• CA Family PACT patients: 4,459*;

• Birth control cycles dispensed: 13,112;

• Emergency contraception: 2,691;

• Cancer screenings: 2,151;

• STI testing: 34,738;

• Abortion services: 1,412; and

• Gender-affirming care visits: 555

*Low-cost family planning services for eligible low-income people

These are services provided to mothers and daughters; baristas and lawyers; high school students and retired grandparents. These are services designed to make our community healthy; allow young people the opportunity to focus on building their careers; and couples the ability to plan their families when they can best support them.  

We should be celebrating Planned Parenthood Mar Monte for making our community stronger. Instead, we now must scramble to figure out how we can care for all the people who no longer will be able to access Planned Parenthood services in San Mateo and South San Francisco. No more access for our neighbors and friends because of draconian cuts made by faceless people in Washington who will never experience the pain of these cuts.  

There will be increased pressure on the remaining health care services in San Mateo County. California already was facing a large budget deficit, even before these Medicaid cuts happened. The combination will hurt all of us, whether we ever have accessed Planned Parenthood services ourselves.  

Earlier this week, a federal judge indefinitely blocked withholding Medicare funds to Planned Parenthood. They ruled that the cuts were too specifically designed to damage Planned Parenthood and most likely amounted to retaliation. That is great news that will pause the immediate damage. But the administration has vowed to appeal the restraining order, and the issue seems likely to wind up at the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, each of us has the power of our own voices to make a difference. If you believe everyone should have access to basic health care in our county, donate to, or volunteer with, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. Pick up your pen and write a letter or a social media post. Pick up your phone and call your elected officials. Pick up your feet and march with others to show that our community supports Planned Parenthood; that we want our neighbors and friends to get basic wellness, family planning and reproductive health care. We saw the power of our community on No Kings Day. We marched for our democracy. Now let’s focus our energies even more and fight to ensure that Planned Parenthood can continue to provide their lifesaving and life-affirming services to everyone who needs them.

I think I can hear those phones ringing, computer keys clicking and shoes being laced already!

Lisa Diaz Nash is a member of the San Mateo City Council, views her own.