DENVER (KDVR) — A spokesperson with Kaiser Permanente confirmed with FOX31 and Channel 2 Monday, it is expanding abortion services for people in Colorado. This is all after a large influx of out-of-state patients coming in for the services.
“Kaiser Permanente is committed to providing comprehensive reproductive health care that respects and supports all of our members’ rights to make, and act on, fully informed decisions about their fertility, family, and future. In short, we respect an individual’s right to make decisions about their own health. We understand this is a complicated, sensitive, and divisive topic. We also believe that expanding services to ensure that our Colorado members have access to safe, timely, and appropriate care is consistent with our commitment to the overall health of our members,” a KP spokesperson said.
FOX31 and Channel 2 checked in with local Planned Parenthood services which expressed the large increase in patients from out of state. Planned Parenthood and Kaiser Permanente don’t have any partnerships.
“We are really a safe haven in this portion of the country along with our neighbors in Kansas and New Mexico,” Jack Teter, with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains said.
Teter said that some patients are driving 1,000 miles one way to come to Colorado to get an abortion, causing wait times to be longer. On average patients are experiencing three weeks of wait time compared to 2021 where the wait time was around a week.
“In 2021 there were about 1,500 out-of-state patients who traveled to Colorado for abortion care. In the last two weeks we’ve seen 500 out-of-state patients and in October there was nearly 900 out-of-state patients scheduling care,” Teter said.
According to the spokesperson with Kaiser Permanente: “Kaiser Permanente provides the full range of comprehensive, integrated reproductive health services. This includes prenatal, maternity and paternity, family planning, contraception, and pregnancy termination services.”
Teter said expanding access to abortion in Colorado is so important.
“The patient travel numbers are shocking,” Teter said.