While Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, is celebrating its 100th anniversary Sunday, one organization is working tirelessly to put Planned Parenthood out of business.
CEO Brandi Swindell founded Stanton Healthcare in 2006. According to the Stanton Project’s website, it has branched out from a room in a doctor’s office to an international affiliate program.
Stanton Healthcare is a nonprofit medical facility that provides pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, client advocacy, and other life-affirming programs that respect the “dignity of both mother and child.”
‘Replace’ Planned Parenthood
“Planned Parenthood is coming up on their 100th anniversary and we are coming up on our 10th. We are looking to replace and outlast Planned Parenthood,” Swindell told The Daily Signal in a phone interview.
“I founded Stanton Healthcare in 2006,” said Swindell. “I have been doing pro-life work for 16 or 17 years and have worked on the national level and co-founded Generation Life.”
Stanton Healthcare’s logo. (Photo: Stanton Healthcare)
Swindell said the pro-life mission has been a driving force in her life, but a realization of the horror of abortion came during her college years.
“This cause has been a passion of mine. I was raised with an understanding of the dignity of human life. However, the realization of what abortion was really hit me when one of my roommates got pregnant and had an abortion,” Swindell said. “Through this I really understood what abortion was and that Planned Parenthood leaves a legacy of tragedy.”
In 2011, five years after opening her first office, Swindell opened another medical clinic, Stanton Healthcare Boise, next door to a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Swindell said that she faced opposition from Planned Parenthood immediately after opening Stanton Healthcare Boise.
“When we opened our doors in Boise, Planned Parenthood was not happy to see us there. We exposed their heart that they are not about true choice. Planned Parenthood claimed that we were violating HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] laws and confidentiality,” Swindell said.
“We are looking to replace and outlast Planned Parenthood.”
—@BrandiSwindell
When covering this confrontation, a reporter approached Swindell and asked to hear about Stanton Healthcare’s position on confidentiality and HIPAA.
“I showed the reporter a plaque prominently displayed on our waiting room office wall that says, ‘We voluntarily comply with HIPAA regulations.’ This claim from Planned Parenthood was comical because our stance in regards to both HIPAA and confidentiality was posted for all to see,” Swindell said.
A ‘Life-Affirming’ Clinic
Looking to expand Stanton Healthcare to other areas, the very first Stanton mobile unit opened in 2013, meeting the needs of women living in rural and immigrant communities throughout the state of Idaho. Modeled after the very first Stanton mobile unit, the Stanton Alabama mobile unit will soon be serving the communities of Birmingham.
Swindell established the Stanton International Affiliate Program in 2014 with the goal to reach as many women as possible with care that respects both mother and child.
The purpose of this program is to “replace abortion businesses around the world because we believe that women deserve access to quality, coercion-free care, and compassionate alternatives to abortion,” according to the program’s website.
Along with the training center that Stanton Healthcare is working on establishing, it will also be opening a mega-center in Idaho where women can receive first-class care.
“Our center opening up in Meridian will be the first-ever life-affirming mega-clinic. We are also working on developing a Stanton Healthcare conference center where we will be training staff from across the country and around the world,” Swindell said.
Besides offering the typical services that clinics provide, Stanton Healthcare’s Meridian location will also be offering an 18-month support program that includes “options counseling, doctor referrals, parenting classes, practical support, and encouragement. Our clients and their babies get a chance at a brighter future.”
This 18-month support program is already offered at Stanton Healthcare Boise and will be expanded to all of Stanton’s affiliate clinics around the nation.
With these services available, Stanton Healthcare’s goal, according to its website, “is to be the first choice for every abortion vulnerable woman in Idaho and beyond.”
To Swindell, Stanton Healthcare is not only about providing quality health care to all women but also protecting and preserving human rights. She said:
I am primarily pro-life because I believe in human rights. Abortion has no business being in women’s health care. Planned Parenthood has sabotaged women’s health care. I founded Stanton Healthcare because I believe that Planned Parenthood has failed us and failed women.
A New Pro-Life Generation
Swindell believes that youth especially have a critical role to play in the pro-life movement.
“Stanton Healthcare has a heart for the emerging generation. Millennials are part of the Stanton revolution,” Swindell said. “We have students coming to us from across the nation that want to be part of the Stanton mission.”
The goal of Swindell and Stanton Healthcare is to reach all women with health care that respects both mother and child.
“Our goal at Stanton Healthcare is to be where Planned Parenthood is. We are setting up next to their clinics and are building a presence in Washington, D.C., and the U.N. We are the true, authentic genuine voice in women’s health care,” Swindell said.
“Women deserve better than the cold doors of an abortion facility. Pregnancy resource centers respect the dignity of every mother and child by empowering women facing difficult situations with life-affirming options,” said Melanie Israel, a research associate for the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.