Planned Parenthood of Northern New England reports that they've received a large boost in donations in the weeks following this year's presidential election.
About 600 of the new donations were given in honor of Mike Pence, the vice president-elect who spearheaded an effort to defund Planned Parenthood back in 2011, says Jill Krowinski, the outgoing vice president of education and Vermont community affairs for the regional group.
“Planned Parenthood has experienced a huge surge of donations and volunteer applications since election day. Hundreds of Vermonters have given, and about 46 percent are new donors to us,” says Krowinski.
Krowinski says the huge increase in new donors may be a record for the organization. She says donations from Maine and New Hampshire also rose.
The organization also saw an increase in interest in volunteering, which includes everything from organizing mailings to running phone banks to hosting informational sessions.
Planned Parenthood has 12 health centers across Vermont, and provides health care for many Vermonters on Medicaid. Krowinski says 90 percent of the services it provides are preventative, including breast exams, birth control and sexual health counseling and testing.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration moved to protect Planned Parenthood’s federal funding by creating a regulation that says federally funded grants for women’s health programs can’t discriminate. NPR reports that “the regulation doesn't name Planned Parenthood, but it was clear the rule was written with the organization in mind.”
Nationally, 75 percent of the federal funding which Planned Parenthood receives comes from Medicaid patients who use their insurance at Planned Parenthood clinics, according to the same NPR story.
