The Looking Glass: Plans change for Planned Parenthood

McKenna Means

Thursday, Feb. 18, Gov. Matt Bevin announced his plan to sue and shut down the only operating Planned Parenthood in Kentucky. The downtown Louisville location stopped performing abortions on Feb. 1, according to a Courier Journal article published on Friday. Bevin claimed that the women’s health clinic had been performing abortions for the entire month of January without a license.

Planned Parenthood stated that it did, in fact, apply for its license in December but that it had not yet been approved for the month of January. This delay between application and approval also occurred several years in a row with the approval of Kentucky’s previous governor Steve Beshear. The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services usually takes a while to approve licensing after a submission, but many of the patients’ cases are time sensitive.

However, with new lawmakers come new rules, and Bevin doesn’t plan to allow Planned Parenthood any slack. He’s well known for being conservative, anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage. After being voted into office, Bevin promised to shut down the health clinic during his term, and so far he’s come through on that promise.

So where are Kentuckians supposed to seek treatment — not just for unplanned pregnancies, but also for gynecological checkups, pap smears and birth control? Our options seem to be getting fewer and farther between, especially since Bevin has also promised to do away with KYNECT.

Quite a few young Kentuckians opposed Bevin’s plans. At time of publication, more than 3,000 of them had signed a petition to have him removed from office, according to the petition’s Web page. This is just one more example of why voting is so important.