Our Challenges Now
The health challenges are daunting.
The need for sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) in Tennessee is urgent.
Tennessee has some of the worst SRH outcomes in the entire nation. Rates of STIs are rising. Our teen birth rate is the 7th highest in the nation, and our teen pregnancy rate is the 9th highest.
The need for sexual and reproductive health care in the East Tennessee region is particularly great.
Rates of chlamydia and gonorrhea in Knox County are the highest of any county in East Tennessee and exceed national rates. Left untreated, chlamydia can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, hospitalization, and infertility. Knox County also has the third highest rate of P&S syphilis infection in East Tennessee.
Knox County also shows enormous racial disparity in teen births - the birth rates for Hispanic teens are almost double that of white teens, and birth rates for Black teens are triple that of white teens. Unfortunately, financial resources remain correlated with SRH outcomes - 41% of Black women and 19% of Hispanic women are living in poverty in Knoxville.
In Knox County alone, the most recent data from the Guttmacher Institute indicates that at least 60,490 women have potential demand for reproductive health services, and over half (33,480) of them likely need public support for contraceptive services and supplies. This does not account for the many women in surrounding rural counties who travel to Knoxville in need of contraceptive services as well.
At present, there are only 9 other publicly funded reproductive health care providers in Knox County trying to meet this need, and together, they are caring for only 24% of the population who need public support for contraceptive services. Planned Parenthood is crucial in this health community because of its ability to provide low-cost and free services to patients such as these.
While one third of all LGBTQ Americans live in the South, the region’s social, economic, and political conditions place LGBTQ southerners at greater risk of poverty and health disparities. East Tennessee, in particular, has very few places where LGBTQ people, and particularly trans folks, can turn for nonjudgmental services.
Knoxville and the surrounding regions—many of which are rural and medically underserved areas—have an immediate need for affordable, accessible sexual and reproductive health care.
Why now?
The state of sex education is appalling.
The poor quality and overall lack of education about sexual issues is causing preventable health problems, creating stress and trauma, and putting our teens’ futures at risk.
Many schools in our region do not offer sex education at all. When schools do offer classes, students report shame-based, stigma-filled content that targets women and LGBTQ students, resulting in unsafe and even hostile environments. Pervasive ignorance, fear of sexuality in our community, a hostile political climate, and conflicting views on reproductive and sexual rights and fact-based sexual health education, all result in a dearth of sexual health knowledge among those who need it most.
Our reproductive rights are hanging by a thread.
The state of Tennessee has banned abortion with no exceptions, stripping millions of people of their right to bodily autonomy. In real time, we are witnessing the Tennessee legislature attack LGBTQ+ health care, particularly gender affirming hormone therapy for minors, and attempt to pass a minors’ abortion travel ban, while refusing to amend the abortion ban to provide exceptions for rape, incest, or mental health.
It has never been just about abortion.
White, patriarchal Christian nationalists will stop at nothing to strip people of their reproductive rights. Planned Parenthood’s issues are where white supremacy, authoritarianism and patriarchy all intersect.
PPTNM will never stop fighting for our patients’ right to nonjudgmental bodily autonomy. No Matter What.
