The Washington Post published a questionable claim about a community health center in a story about an Ohio Planned Parenthood clinic.
In a story published Tuesday titled “Planned Parenthood is a symbol. This is the reality of one Ohio clinic,” a Washington Post reporter shared anecdotal stories about a day she spent at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Akron, Ohio.
In the story, she claims that “the only federal health center [in Akron] has a three-to-six-week wait for appointments.”
That federal health center is called AxessPointe. AxessPointe has five locations in northeast Ohio, including Akron.
The Daily Signal called AxessPointe’s Akron location to ask how soon a sick patient could see a doctor. A spokeswoman said the clinic has walk-in appointments available, and a patient could be seen by a doctor today.
The spokeswoman also said AxessPointe has a women’s health clinic that offers a range of OB-GYN services, including cancer screenings, prenatal care, and yearly exams.
Asked where The Washington Post may have gotten the idea that it would take three to six weeks to get an appointment at AxessPointe, the spokeswoman replied, “I have no idea.”
When contacted by The Daily Signal, a Washington Post editor defended the story.
“The three-to-six-week wait is for appointments for women’s health services—not for emergency sick visits—as is clear from the paragraph,” Ann Gerhart, the Post’s senior editor-at-large, wrote in an email. “This story is not about sick visits for low-income people.”
The spokeswoman for AxessPointe said its women’s clinic could typically schedule appointments for non-emergency cases within one week.
The Daily Signal has previously reported that a wide range of community health centers are available for low-income patients across the United States, and that they significantly outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics—13,540 comprehensive health clinics compared to 665 Planned Parenthood locations.
