History: Planned Parenthood Clinic in Matawan (1970)

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The 18 Jun 1970 edition of The Matawan Journal announced the opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic at the Matawan Health Center at 145 Broad Street in Matawan. The clinic would be open on 19 Jun 1970 and would operate on Friday afternoons for two hours on a weekly basis thereafter. Local patients previously had to travel to Asbury Park or Freehold to receive family planning and birth control assistance. (145 Broad Street was recently torn down. It was listed as the home of the Matawan Health Department's Bureau of Vital Statistics.)

Planned Parenthood clinics were available in Asbury Park, Freehold, Matawan, and Red Bank, according to the 18 Jul 1973 edition of The Independent.

The clinic was granted a sublease of the Broad Street address from the Matawan Department of Health in April 1982, according to a letter to the editor in the 3 Jun 1982 edition of The Independent. Matawan Borough Council approved the sublease at their 7 Jun 1982 meeting, according to a letter to the editor in the 16 Jun 1982 edition of The Independent. It's unclear to me what happened to prompt approval of the lease a dozen years after the clinic located at Broad Street.

There was still a clinic in Matawan in 1994, according to the 8 Sep edition of The Independent. This was the last specific reference I could find.

Planned Parenthood of Central NJ had 6 locations in Monmouth and Middlesex counties in 1996, per the 3 Jul edition of The Independent. Matawan was not mentioned but could have been one of the six.

"We're primarily concerned about providing preventive health care," said Executive Director Phyllis Kinsler, "and we respond to certain crises." Clients receive services from the government-funded agency each year for sliding-scale fees based on income.
 

All sites provide reproductive health care, mid-life health services, cancer screening, birth control and physical examinations. Testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy testing, counseling and education services also are available throughout the counties.

The earliest reference to the Planned Parenthood organization that I could find in the Matawan Journal was in the 19 Jun 1958 edition. Mrs Inge Butman, daughter of Mr and Mrs Ludwig Voss, of Morganville Farms, Matawan, was graduating from Bard College, and the commencement address was being delivered by Mr William Vogt, National Director.

When a Cliffwood woman had her 16th child in 1949, the front page article in the 20 Jan edition of The Matawan Journal was humorously titled Planned Parenthood? (Mom was aiming for 20 kids; Dad wasn't quoted on the matter)

Margaret Sanger established the American Birth Control League in 1921. This became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942.