An uneasy coexistence.

Byline: Danielle M. Horn

WORCESTER - Roderick P. Murphy looked out the window of his small office last week toward 470 Pleasant St., which has been swarming with construction and landscaping activity as Planned Parenthood works to open a newer, larger facility.

"They must have a deadline," said the Southbridge resident and director of Problem Pregnancy, 495 Pleasant St. "They're really pushing to get this done."

The reproductive care and sexual health provider is close to opening an 11,000-square-foot health center diagonally across from Mr. Murphy's nonprofit business, which he calls "the antidote" to Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider.

And while Problem Pregnancy has been operating across the city from Planned Parenthood for more than a year, it was no mistake that Mr. Murphy chose in May 2008 to relocate to Pleasant Street.

Planned Parenthood announced in May 2007 it would move its clinic from Lincoln Street, and bought 470 Pleasant St. for $1.6 million. Problem Pregnancy, which had set up shop near or next to Planned Parenthood twice before, sold its Lincoln Street office months later and moved across the city, anticipating the larger organization's move.

Planned Parenthood remains at 631 Lincoln St. during renovations of its future site, which is expected to open by the end of the month as a health center with community outreach offices.

"We're competitors, so to speak," said Mr. Murphy, who actively opposes abortion. "If you're selling hot dogs, a good place to sell them is in a ball field. We'll probably take some of their clients, and they'll probably take some of ours."

Planned Parenthood bills itself as the country's "most trusted provider of reproductive health care," noting that one in four American women will seek its services at least once in her life. Birth control, emergency contraception, testing for sexually transmitted disease, and patient education are among the services offered in addition to abortion.

"I think it's important for the community to know that 75 percent of what we do is preventative services," said Jackie Mansfield-Marcoux, director of Planned Parenthood's local health center. "We firmly believe that there should be access to these services. They are vitally needed in Worcester County, which has a higher teen birth rate and STD rate than the state average."

The organization's first clinic in the city was on Main Street. Problem Pregnancy opened next-door in 1982.

When Planned Parenthood moved to Lincoln Street in 1993, Problem Pregnancy followed, moving a few doors down.

And when it opens on Pleasant Street this month, Problem Pregnancy will be waiting, across the street.

Mr. Murphy and his workers - all volunteers - are hoping women considering abortion will walk in their door, not Planned Parenthood's. They refer pregnant women to a variety of services, including counseling and vocational training.

"We're right here across from where they are. They could come to talk to us about their problems," he said.

Still, even without his "competitor" in the neighborhood, Mr. Murphy said his organization has been helping more women than ever, though he would not cite specific numbers.

In the past, Problem Pregnancy volunteers have approached women walking into Planned Parenthood in an attempt to have the women use their services. Mr. Murphy said his organization has not, however, coordinated the many protests outside the larger organization.

Ms. Mansfield-Marcoux said security will remain a priority at the new location. A security guard is always on duty during business hours.

"We have the buffer zone around the entrances, and that will still apply," Ms. Mansfield-Marcoux said, referring to a law that last year expanded protest-free zones around abortion clinics.

Mr. Murphy said he knows many of the routine protesters, and most of them are "your grandmother with rosary beads."

"What Planned Parenthood calls violence, we call talking," Mr. Murphy said. "I always try to get to know the managers over there, but they're very cool to us."

ART: PHOTOS; MAP

CUTLINE: (1) Problem Pregnancy has opened an office across the street from a Planned Parenthood office, at right, under construction on Pleasant Street. (2) Construction continues on the Planned Parenthood facility on Pleasant Street in Worcester. (MAP) Problem Pregnancy // Planned Parenthood

PHOTOG: (PHOTOS) T&G Staff Photos/RICK CINCLAIR (MAP) T&G Staff/DON LANDGREN JR.