Our Goal

To provide access to family planning services and contraceptives of choice to help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies among women and girls in Dallas County.

Our Challenge

Throughout the community, the need for contraception, sex education and sexual health care is outpacing the availability of these services. Cost and availability are big reasons why, as are the patient’s ability to make time for an appointment, and even having the ability to get there. We’re out to change all of that.

Our Solution

Already, Parkland is working to enhance accessibility at its ten women’s health centers by extending clinic hours, including offering Saturday and evening clinic hours. Additionally, Parkland has also procured a new mobile Family Planning van. In partnership with Dallas College and other community stakeholders, we will deploy this van to serve areas with limited clinic access.

As the delivery site for nearly one-third of all babies in Dallas each year, we’re also increasing access to care postpartum. Parkland will broaden the range of postpartum contraception options available to labor and delivery patients, with a particular emphasis on Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) like IUDs and hormonal implants. This enhancement will occur prior to patient discharge, eliminating the need to wait for an appointment and enabling quicker access to contraception, all while reducing the occurrence of unintentional repeat pregnancies.

What’s Next?

As Dallas County’s safety-net health system, Parkland Health is committed to improving access to healthcare for all. Our Family Planning program addresses the barriers women and girls face when trying to access family planning and contraceptive care and helps improve racial equity locally by empowering all women in need with affordable reproductive healthcare, resources and education.

Parkland is currently: 

• Working to enhance accessibility at its ten women’s health centers by extending clinic hours, including offering Saturday and evening clinic appointments
• Using its new mobile Family Planning van in partnership with Dallas College to serve neighbors with limited clinic access 
• Increasing the range of contraception options available to new mothers to enable quicker access to contraception all while reducing the occurrence of unintentional repeat pregnancies

Parkland Health Foundation believes an investment in access to family planning services and contraceptives of choice for nearly 30,000 women is an investment in our community’s future. Philanthropic support allows us to expand our existing programs, develop new interventions to solve complex problems, and provide the best possible care to all.

Learn More

Discover more about our approach to family planning here.