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WILKES-BARRE — The local branch of national health care provider Planned Parenthood is reeling after having its longtime lease revoked by the Angeline Kirby Memorial Health Center.
A rally Saturday is now planned to show support for Planned Parenthood and how it helps the community.
According to Planned Parenthood Keystone President and CEO Melissa Reed, the lease was revoked shortly after the organization went to the board of the health center with a proposal to add abortion services to its list of services.
However, Reed wrote in a press release that it’s unclear exactly why the lease was being revoked by the health center, located on North Franklin Street in Wilkes-Barre, which Planned Parenthood has called home for over 80 years.
“We have no idea why the Angeline Kirby Memorial Health Center board ended our lease after more than eight decades,” Reed wrote. “No explanation was ever provided by the Kirby Board.”
But she does cite the timing of the proposal for abortions being offered at the clinic.
According to Reed, Planned Parenthood issued a proposal this spring to begin abortions at the clinic, and it was asked by the board to do a presentation to seek approval. Reed says the presentation was done in September.
“The Kirby Board never provided a response to our presentation,” she wrote. “Instead, less than a week later, a letter was hand-delivered to our health center staff, indicating that our lease would not be renewed.”
She says the center, to date, continues to not answer her calls and emails.
Danielle Cappellini, executive director of the Kirby Health Center board, declined to comment. She referred questions to board vice president Attorney N. Brian Caverly. Two messages left with Caverly on Tuesday were not returned.
‘Singular focus’
Reed says her biggest priority right now is keeping Planned Parenthood open. The organization provides numerous services besides the proposed abortions — including STD and cancer screenings, HIV and AIDS services, sex education and various other health services for both women and men. With the next closest Planned Parenthood located more than 60 miles away in Allentown, she said its important to keep the site in Wilkes-Barre.
This, she wrote, is more important than a future determination about the abortion service.
“That is our singular focus right now, keeping the doors of Planned Parenthood open to those who rely on us,” she wrote. “Any future determination regarding the inclusion of abortion services will be made only after we secure a new location.”
However, she did say that there is a growing need for abortion services regionally.
Health ‘compromised’
For one local woman, the potential closure of Planned Parenthood would be a major health detriment to the community.
Kara Dooner, 20, said she was angered by reports that the clinic lost its lease.
“When I saw that, I immediately thought that was wrong,” the West Pittston woman said.
So, she and several other young women began talking over Facebook, and decided to begin planning a rally in support of the clinic.
The Planned Parenthood Support Rally will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre.
According to Dooner, the rally is meant to send a message to the Kirby Health Center that, even if the clinic were to start offering abortions, “that doesn’t mean they don’t do other things for the community.”
“They offer a boatload of services,” she said, such as the ones mentioned above that she believes are key to community health.
“I really think that everyone’s health is going to be compromised (if the clinic is forced to close,)” she added.
Dooner said the rally is about more than just abortions, but organizers are expecting some pro-life advocates to protest.
She asks everyone attending to be respectful.
“We’ve really been stressing that we want our participants to stay true to their beliefs, but respect the fact that others may have a different opinion,” she said. “We don’t want people to engage in a problematic situation.”
The Luzerne County branch of Pennsylvanians for Human Life, a pro-life activist group, did not respond to requests for comments this week.