Regional Planned Parenthood nonprofits recently disputed comments made during a discussion with Bonner County commissioners and Panhandle Health District Medical Director Gregory Pennock about women’s reproductive health care. 

Planned Parenthood Advocates and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Greater Washington and North Idaho issued a joint statement taking issue with equating any services for reproductive health care for women as “Planned Parenthood” funding. 

“Not content to just drive all OB-GYNs out of their region, Bonner County apparently will keep on restricting access to care until their patients have no choice but to drive hours away or learn how to provide care to themselves,” the statement read. 

PPAA and PPAGWNI pointed out that Planned Parenthood has no health centers in North Idaho and has no relationship with Bonner County or the Panhandle Health District and expressed surprise that any reproductive health care was termed Planned Parenthood services.   

“Panhandle Health District currently provides a predominantly women's health clinic that has been an important access point to filling gaps in women's care,” Pennock said. 

When asked whether resources will continue to support women’s reproductive health to meet those needs in the future, Pennock said that’s an unknown at this time. 

“Panhandle Health District is currently discussing how to best utilize public resources to improve overall public health,” Pennock said. 

Panhandle Health District reported 4,215 unique patients for 7,484 visits from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Of those patients, 70% were female.

Contraception/pregnancy testing was the second most common reason for appointments during that time, according to Panhandle Health data.

After years of working as a certified nurse and midwife and previously serving as a board member in a statewide coalition called Idahoans United for Women and Families, Sandpoint resident Cynthia Dalsing said she had been watching the discussion with mounting concern.

She counted only a few local practitioners among the doctors and nurses licensed to provide women’s reproductive health services.  

“We have lost four gynecologists who were full-time providers of women’s care, so it doesn’t surprise me that the percentages have shifted and more women are getting help from the health department,” Dalsing said.  

One concern that has also arisen as OB-GYN options have left the area is the drive time to receive care, especially in emergencies. 

“The best way to have really healthy babies is to take good care of women and this is not,” Dalsing said. “It’s putting women at risk of complications."

As part of The Pro-Voice Project, the group brainstormed ways to improve support for keeping women healthy without the resources they used to have in Sandpoint. 

“If you have cervical cancer, you cannot get that treated in Sandpoint anymore,” Dalsing said. 

Until more reproductive health options for women emerge in North Idaho, Dalsing worried about the future of reproductive care for women. 

“Women are essential in a community, it’s not just that they give birth. They're essential in every aspect of a community,” Dalsing said.