Planned Parenthood Before and After Roe: Historical Lessons for the Current Fight

Abstract

During the 1970s, Planned Parenthood (PP) went from an established, well-funded birth control provider in the political mainstream to a controversial organization associated with abortion. As abortion rights mobilized both feminists and a conservative opposition, the agenda and rhetoric of PP had to expand and adjust accordingly. This project explores the ways PP’s mission and the political terrain in which it operated became more complicated in this decade, focusing on the strategies it adopted to survive. There is much to be learned from how the organization sought to weather the unique tensions experienced by the legalization of abortion, the energy of the women’s movement, and the emerging backlash against perceived liberal excesses as it navigated the often oppositional demands of being both a service provider and advocate. As abortion access enters a new era of vulnerability and contestation, the role of PP remains uncertain. In exploring a key moment in the organization’s past, we also ponder the role of PP in the Dobbs era and whether it has either the capacity or political will to serve its constituents given its complicated history and still complicated present.