ABOUT US

Our history

We are able to provide the services that we do thanks to decades of hard work by scores of dedicated people.

Formation of PPOSBC
Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties is an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). When a group of concerned Orange County visionaries got together in 1965, they created the groundwork for providing women and men with the education and medical care they needed to plan their families.

From our first medical center that opened at 211 South Broadway, Santa Ana CA in 1968, we have grown to eight medical centers.

Our medical centers are located in:

Locally, we provide award winning prenatal care, cutting edge health education, and access to family planning. Last year we saw over 41,000 patients and in one year can make over 31,000 education contacts.

In our medical centers, women and men of all ages and backgrounds come for

• Reproductive health examinations

• Pregnancy testing

• Options counseling

• Adoption referral

• Prenatal care

• Abortion service

• Cancer screening

• Sexually transmitted infections

• Risk-reduction health education diagnosis and treatment

• Birth control methods

• Vasectomy services

• Emergency contraception

Programs also offer nutrition education and food vouchers to low-income families for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Health Education is provided through ongoing projects to reach the teen population in our medical centers, mainstream schools, correctional schools, juvenile hall, and substance abuse treatment centers. An anonymous toll-free hotline is provided by health educators.

Outreach to males is provided by the Male Involvement Program, which fosters responsible sexual participation by males.

The Health Education department also provides a Resource Library open to the public.

Marketing maintains our presence in the community through advertising, working with local businesses, patient recruitment and satisfaction, and community outreach through tabling events.

Public Affairs leads the way for our investment in advocacy and electoral efforts at both the affiliate and national levels. Our Community Action Fund monitors and lobbies for reproductive rights and access to family planning services, uses the Community Action Network to equip you with information to lobby elected officials, and participates in pro-choice organizations like The Orange County Coalition for Reproductive Rights.

Community Affairs/Development is responsible for the planning, research, and development of fundraising goals for the agency, prepares grants for funding, and designs fundraising projects and special events.

Human Resources oversees full, part-time, and hourly staff members. They provide employee recruitment, benefits, compensation, and employee-relations administration. They also administer agency policies and procedures as well as monitor compliance with labor laws and regulations.

In addition, the Volunteer Program of Human Resources oversees the dedicated volunteers who donate their valuable time and skills to the organization.

PPOSBC is an affiliate within Planned Parenthood Federation of America. We are a self-governing, nonprofit organization. The various departments outlined above operate to provide the delivery of high quality reproductive health care at an affordable price and to promote the right to make independent, informed health decisions.

PPOSBC Timeline

• 1965 PPOSBC began in Santa Ana (when Comstock Laws were reversed)

• 1975 Costa Mesa center opens

• 1980 Mission Viejo center opens

• 1981 Colposcopy services offered

• 1986 Garden Grove center opens

• 1988 Upland center opens

• 1996 Anaheim center opens

• 1998 Orange center opens

• 1998 PPOSBC administration moved to 700 S. Tustin; Orange, CA 92866

• 2001 San Bernardino center opens

• 2004 New, expanded medical sites launched in Santa Ana and Westminster

When and how Planned Parenthood was established
Planned Parenthood dates back to October 16, 1916 during WWI when Margaret Sanger, a former nurse, and her sister opened the first American birth control medical center. The medical center – located in Brooklyn, NY – was the result of Sanger’s outrage over the cycle of poverty she saw among women who bore unplanned children.

The medical center provided diaphragms (pessaries) imported from Holland and offered advice to impoverished women who lined up for blocks outside the medical center doors in their quest to gain control over their lives.

This was in direct violation of the 1870’s Comstock law that prohibited publicity and distribution of information about sexuality, contraception, and human reproduction.

Ten days after opening, the medical center was closed by police. Sanger and her associates were arrested for violating anti-obscenity statutes by discussing contraception.

Brooklyn street where first birth control medical center opened 1916 PPFA When silent movies were in style, Margaret Sanger was speaking up. Unthwarted by her month in jail, Sanger began publishing the monthly journal Birth Control Review in 1917.

Sanger then joined forces with supporters to form the American Birth Control League (ABCL) in 1921 and the Clinical Research Bureau (CRB) in 1923, renamed Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (BCCRB) in 1928.

Birth control medical centers began emerging across the nation, often run by the efforts of volunteers.

Several hundred of the more than 1 million letters that came from women requesting information about contraception were published in 1928 by Sanger in a book called Motherhood in Bondage.

In 1942, during WWII, The ABCL, now merged with the BCCRB, adopted the name by which it is known today: Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).

PPFA has grown to become this country’s leading family planning and reproductive health organization.

Katherine Dexter McCormick, heir to International Harvester and one of the first women graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, supplied funding for the research and first clinical testing of oral contraceptives. “The pill” was approved by the Federal and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1960.

Breakthroughs in public policy emerged in the 1960s due in part to Planned Parenthood’s outspoken advocacy and demands by other organizations for social justice.

A direct challenge by Planned Parenthood of Connecticut resulted in the 1965 Supreme Court case that reversed the Comstock laws. It was now legal for physicians to prescribe contraceptives to married couples according to the patient’s “right to privacy”.

However, it was not until 1972 that the “right to privacy” made birth control legal for single women. That was the year of Watergate.

In 1968 the Therapeutic Abortion Act became law in California. This gave victims of rape or incest, and women with mental or physical problems, the right to have an abortion. However, two psychiatric consults had to prove the woman’s case. In 1970 New York State passed a law permitting abortions for all women.

Planned Parenthood of Syracuse, NY began performing abortions on the first day permitted by the law.Finally on January 22, 1973 the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision granted all women a constitutional right to have an abortion under the guaranteed “right to privacy”.

Comprised of 126 affiliates, PPFA governs 865 medical centers and serves nearly 5 million people every year. The International Planned Parenthood Federation began in 1952 and is headquartered in London, serving 17 countries.

PPFA Timeline
1916 - WWI (1914-1918) - 1st American Birth Control medical center (in Brooklyn, NY) was opened by Margaret Sanger and her sister.

1921 - Silent Films, Jazz & Flappers, 1st regular radio broadcast,
19th Amendment (women’s vote) - American Birth Control League formed by Mgt Sanger.

• medical centers started popping up in various cities

• Katherine Hepburn’s mother was one of the founders of PP Connecticut

• Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau was started in1926 (it was a medical center with physician, Hannah Stone)

1942 - WWII (1939-1945) - Planned Parenthood Federation of America

• ABC League + Clinical Research Bureau merged and renamed

1960 - Hippies & Free Love - “The pill” is approved by the FDA (research was funded by private donors).

1965 - Vietnam War (1959-1975) - Comstock Laws reversed by US Supreme Ct (almost 100 years later) from a direct challenge by PP/Conn; newly defined “right to (marital) privacy” [Single not until 1972].

1970 - Nixon - Title X was the Public Health Service Act (support, funding for family planning, education, contraceptive research).

1972 - Watergate (Nixon resigned 1974) - Single women got “right to privacy”.

1973 - Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision granted all women the constitutional right to have an abortion under the guaranteed “right to privacy”.

2001 - PPFA has128 affiliates and 850 medical centers