Kathryn Boyd, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s new president, described the broad array of services the organization provides.

“People know they can be seen at Planned Parenthood in Ogden for birth control, STI testing, treatment, vaccines, wellness exams, breast exams, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing and abortion referrals,” Boyd told the crowd. “And they also know they will receive this care in an affordable and confidential environment. Our motto is ‘Care no matter what.'”

Until recently, Planned Parenthood operated a clinic at 4387 Harrison Boulevard. That site shut down when the new and larger Washington Terrace clinic opened for business. The waiting room bears the name of longtime Ogden advocate Sarah McClellan, who worked to preserve health care access for marginalized and underserved populations.

McClellan serves as project director for the Northern Utah HIV/AIDS Coalition, an effort she launched in 1996 to address a gap in services, and has supported Planned Parenthood since the 1980s.

Sean Childers-Gray, president of Ogden Pride, paid tribute Wednesday to McClellan and Planned Parenthood.

“Ogden Pride would not have been without this woman who we’re dedicating this room to tonight,” Childers-Gray said. “This lady has built such a great community and connects so many resources and people and love. And Ogden Pride needed that community.”

His nonprofit first formed in 2014. In recent years, conservative politicians have focused on LGBTQ rights by introducing and passing bills meant to limit discussions about LGBTQ issues and expressing a willingness to overturn same-sex marriage legalization.

“We’re taking hit and hit and hit. They need that care and safety,” Childers-Gray said of nonbinary and transgender individuals who have been a focus of legislators in Utah and throughout the country. “This room will become that safe space where they have the choices and autonomy.”

Planned Parenthood is also recognized as the nation’s top provider of sex education, reaching 1.2 million people each year, according to the organization’s website.

In a recent interview, Boyd – a recent transplant from Georgia – emphasized the importance of that role, particularly in Utah where PPAU reaches about 6,000 students per year with sex education programs that fall within constraints set by the Utah Legislature and local school districts.

According to Boyd, the Weber-Morgan Health District has the state’s second-highest rates of sexually transmitted infections – “particularly gonorrhea and chlamydia,” she said. “So students and their parents want and need trusted experts to explain real facts about sex, reproduction and disease.”

The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 ushered in legislative bans on abortions in several states. As a result, Boyd said she’s seeing a surge in demand for reliable and convenient birth control – the kind you can “get and forget.”

“People are realizing that in this country there is now an attack on bodily autonomy and personal decision making,” Boyd said. “And if there’s a person out there who suddenly finds themself pregnant – depending on where they live – it’s forced pregnancy.”

Planned Parenthood legally challenged Utah’s legislative efforts to ban abortion – first through a trigger law that took effect when Roe v. Wade got overturned, then this year through HB 467 that bars clinics from performing abortions, limiting such procedures to hospital settings.

This May, a Utah court blocked implementation of the clinic ban, and the trigger ban is also on hold due to an injunction granted in July 2022. So for now, abortion is still legal in Utah up to 18 weeks of pregnancy and licensed Planned Parenthood clinics can continue to provide that service.

“Essentially this is the second time in a year that we, along with the ACLU of Utah, successfully blocked new abortion bans,” Boyd said by phone this week.

Utah Supreme Court Justices are scheduled to hear oral arguments regarding the state’s challenge to the injunction currently blocking implementation of the trigger ban on Aug. 8. After that, it could be weeks or months before a decision is released, Boyd said.

In the meantime, Planned Parenthood supporters remain devoted to the cause of personal reproductive choice.

Ogden resident Kristin Radulovich attended Wednesday’s event as a “concerned citizen wanting to ensure that women’s rights are protected and that we have choices.”

Leah Christen drove from Syracuse to show her support.

“I felt that a lot of people have incorrect knowledge about what Planned Parenthood does – and all the good that it does,” Christen said. “It’s under attack and people need to stand up and do what’s right, and to protect women.”

Editor’s note: A quote by Planned Parenthood of Utah President Kathryn Boyd has been corrected to state that the Weber-Morgan Health District, not Utah as a whole, has the state’s second-highest rates of sexually transmitted infections.