When it started in 1940, it was denied recognition by the Champaign Medical Society. Patients had to be “poor and married” to access its services.

In its first year, what was then called the Champaign County Family Planning Center, saw 39 patients.

Seventy years and tens of thousands of patients later, the organization is the local office of Planned Parenthood of Illinois, 302 E. Stoughton St., Champaign.

“In terms of what was available to women, it was quite remarkable,” said Beth Kanter, senior vice president of external affairs. “We’ve come a long way since then.”

The organization will be celebrating its 70 years in Champaign with a dinner Friday at 6 p.m. at the I Hotel.

The organization’s services, hours, staffing and location have changed over the years, according to newspaper reports from the Champaign County Historical Archives.

Planned Parenthood made news in 1953 by beginning to offer six-week marriage preparation courses for engaged and newly married women, according to archived reports.

When oral contraceptives were approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the 1960s, Kanter said Planned Parenthood was allowed to offer the pill to patients who had a prescription from a private physician and could pay $2 per month – as long as the clinic did not publicize the service.

When the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case in 1973 made it illegal for states to restrict first-term abortions, Planned Parenthood expanded its pregnancy testing and counseling services, Kanter said.

The organization did not offer these services without opposition, however, as Catholic leaders from the Diocese of Peoria protested the fact that the United Way was allocating some funding to Planned Parenthood in the late 1970s.

Calls to the Diocese of Peoria for comment were not returned.

John Paul Deddens, executive director of Students for Life of Illinois, said he has done sidewalk counseling outside the Champaign clinic, talking to pregnant women about the options they have other than abortion.

He said he thinks Planned Parenthood focuses too much on abortion and not enough on life – of the pregnant woman or of her unborn child.

In the 1980s, Planned Parenthood started a peer education group against teen pregnancy and in the 1990s, it began working with groups of University students.

The Registered Student Organization Sexual Health Peers is working with Planned Parenthood for the first time in two and a half years, said Amirrah Abou-Youssef, president of the group and senior in LAS.

Sexual Health Peers donated $250 to Planned Parenthood as part of its 70th anniversary fund drive.

“For students on campus, we have McKinley (Health Center), but not everyone feels comfortable going there,” Abou-Youssef said. “So it’s nice that we have Planned Parenthood right on campus as another option.”

After Planned Parenthood had been counseling pregnant women for about 20 years, a 1991 Supreme Court ruling placed a gag on abortion counseling for facilities that were receiving a certain type of federal funding.

Archived reports say the agency continued informing pregnant women about their options.

“Unofficially, no one really expects Planned Parenthood to accept the gag rule,” wrote a story in the Champaign News-Gazette on May 24, 1991.

The clinic began offering abortions in January 1995, about six months after moving into its current location, according to archived reports.

The Champaign location now offers medication abortion, according to its Web site.

“Planned Parenthood provides safety net services, not just for women on Medicaid or low income women, but they really welcome any woman that needs help,” said Allison Jones, community organizer for Champaign County Health Care Consumers. “And they even have some basic services for men.”

Kanter said Planned Parenthood began offering a lot more medical services in the 2000s, including more varieties of intrauterine devices, sexually transmitted disease screenings, testicular exams for men and medication abortion.

“We will be doing some renovations to the health center to make it even more welcoming and appealing to our patients, That will occur over the next year,” Kanter said.

For now, Planned Parenthood will recognize those who have supported the organization over the years at the anniversary dinner, including State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-103, and State Sen. Michael Frerichs, D-52.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the Champaign-Urbana community to come together,” Kanter said. “To recognize the important role Planned Parenthood plays in providing high quality reproductive care services for the women, men and teens of the community.”