Minister Brandon Gilvin, community organizer Kamari Sharard and public health educator Chequita Webb
photo by Joseph Dycus
Planned Parenthood is expanding their presence into Chattanooga, and local public health educator Chequita Webb says there are no plans to place an abortion clinic in the area. She says the organization is not going to be working with Hamilton County Schools, and will not have a physical location. She spoke to media on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are not working with Hamilton County schools, and we cannot,” Ms. Webb says. “We are just here to be a resource for other organizations, and to help in talking about comprehensive sex education. We provide so many more services than just abortions. We provide education, women’s health, immunizations, and more. Our clinics provide healthcare for everyone.
“My role as health educator is to provide evidence-based and medically accurate information tailored toward the needs of the community. We provide educational sessions and training for youth, parents, and professionals on topics like relationships, birth control, sexually transmitted illnesses, consent, abstinence, safter sex and more.”
Kamari Sharard is the other member of Planned Parenthood’s Chattanooga team. Her role is to engage with the local community. She said that having open conversations with Chattanoogans who may not completely agree with the organization’s stances is important.
“As a community organizer, meeting people where they are at is very important, as is finding ways to connect with people by having conversations about values we can connect on,” Ms. Sharard says. “That is an important way to break down barriers and to bring people together. ”
Because Planned Parenthood will not have a physical location, they will refer people to organizations around Chattanooga that can provide services as Planned Parenthood normally would. First Christian Church senior minister Brandon Gilvin said he supports Planned Parenthood, and described what he believes are important services in the area.
“I believe they provide an important service that fills in an important gap here in Chattanooga,” said the minister. He said that ‘gap’ is sex education that is based on more than just abstinence. “One of those services is comprehensive and non-judgmental sex education. My own denomination offers age-appropriate sex education through our summer programs, because there is a gap in our schools.”