The Quickie: PP Affiliate Named Top Health Care Provider

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: PP Northern New England named a top provider and our weekly state fights look ahead. 

FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR, PP NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND NAMED A TOP PROVIDER BY PRESS GANEY: Last week, Planned Parenthood Northern New England (PPNNE) won the 2022 Human Experience Guardian of Excellence Award by Press Ganey for the second year in a row. PPNNE was rated in the top 5% for patient experience out of more than 41,000 participating health care facilities. Last year, in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, PPNNE handled an unprecedented number of patients for a range of services from abortion care to contraception and vasectomy services. 

“This award is incredible if you think about the year that our organization and our movement endured,” Judith Selzer, President and CEO of PPNNE, said. “In the face of so much adversity, our staff never lost sight of our North Star, which is providing the highest quality sexual and reproductive health care to everyone who walks through our doors, no matter what. This award symbolizes that our dedicated and compassionate staff were a light in the darkness for the more than 36,000 patients who came to us for care last year and I couldn’t be prouder to call them my teammates.” 

View the full list of winners here. 

STATE FIGHTS LOOK AHEAD: This week the Oklahoma and Kentucky legislatures are back in session. Already, dozens of bills attacking trans and abortion rights have been filed. 

• Tomorrow the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a total abortion ban (H. 3774). Additional bans are also moving in the Senate — a total ban (S. 240) and a six-week ban (S. 474). The Senate Medical Affairs Committee will take up S. 240 on Thursday.
• This week, the Utah Senate will likely vote on a resolution that would amend the rules of civil procedure to prevent litigants from securing a preliminary injunction unless they can demonstrate the case has a substantial likelihood of success–a much steeper threshold than current Utah law. The resolution specifically targets the hold on Utah’s abortion trigger ban which has been in place since June, following Planned Parenthood Advocates of Utah’s challenge to the law. The resolution has already passed the House. 
• Today marks the start of Oklahoma’s legislative session, and attacks on LGBTQ+ people and abortion rights are expected to increase. Lawmakers have filed at least 15 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including bans on gender affirming care at ages up to 26 and a ban on gender affirming care providers in the state Medicaid program. Several anti-abortion bills have been filed, including legislation that would criminalize pregnant people who obtain an abortion; a bill to prohibit schools or their employees from providing birth control, transportation, or provide family planning counseling without parental consent; and potential anti-abortion constitutional amendments. 
• Nebraska lawmakers are considering a six-week abortion ban. More than 200 people showed up to testify against the bill at the seven-hour hearing last week. The committee is expected to vote on whether or not to advance the ban out of committee in the coming days.
• Tomorrow, the Alaska House Health & Social Services committee will hold a hearing on H.B.17, legislation to expand contraceptive access in the state. 
• On Wednesday, several anti-LGBTQ+ bills will be heard in committee in Arizona. The Senate Government committee will consider legislation attacking drag shows and performers and the House Government committee will consider legislation to restrict sex markers on state and local government forms. 
• And in Kentucky, lawmakers will be returning to the state house tomorrow as the state legislative session resumes. 

On the proactive front, the Virginia Senate will vote this week on a proposed constitutional amendment (SJ255) to protect reproductive freedom, including the right to abortion. House delegates introduced their version of the amendment, but it was defeated in subcommittee last week.