In the rural town of Athens where choices are sometimes not an option, Ohio University students get the chance to decide between sexual health services at Hudson Health Center and Planned Parenthood.

Along with offering reproductive health services, both clinics have sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, emergency contraception, educational seminars and a variety of other benefits to offer students.

While the services at Hudson are available only to OU students, Planned Parenthood serves men and women in eight locations in Southeast Ohio, including one in Athens.

Both clinics emphasize complete patient confidentiality and work to protect them.

Information that patients reveal is confidential, and the discussion of the patient's problem occurs in a private area, said Char Kopchick, director of health education and wellness at Hudson Health Center.

Every Planned Parenthood employee must sign a form agreeing not to give out confidential information about their patients, said Kay Atkins, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio.

Hudson and Planned Parenthood both do special programs for certain organizations on reproductive issues.

POWER, a group of peers sponsored by Hudson, sponsor programs on methods of contraception and other issues that affect entire student population. Planned Parenthood offers the same kind of educational services to their patients.

One difference that exists between Hudson and Planned Parenthood is that Hudson has its own pharmacy where students can fill prescriptions for oral contraceptives, diaphragms and emergency contraceptions. This pharmacy will fill prescriptions from Planned Parenthood and students can have a doctor from home transfer recent records to Hudson, Kopchick said.

Often, students get the best prices through Hudson's pharmacy, Kopchick said. A package of oral contraceptives will cost four dollars and many students bring prescriptions from Planned Parenthood to Hudson's pharmacy.

Planned Parenthood offers a sliding fee to its patients, which means they can get lower prices for prescriptions if they bring documentation that says they are in need of assistance.

"A woman has to be screened for eligibility and must bring documentation and then she might receive the sliding fee," Atkins said.

Students might choose to go to Planned Parenthood if they are afraid that someone might recognize them and question what they are doing at Hudson, Kopchick said.

"Some might like anonymity of going off campus," she said. "There is always the chance of running into someone you know."

Both clinics feel that they offer comparable services but they don't view each other as competitors.

"We have a good working relationship," Atkins said. "We complement each other and do referrals back and forth.