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From: kew@bigburd.UUCP (Karen Wieckert)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: Planned Parenthood posting
Message-ID: <2041@bigburd.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 18:36:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: bigburd.2041
Posted: Fri Aug 16 18:36:56 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 06:35:01 EDT
References: <639@ttidcc.UUCP> <10929@rochester.UUCP>
Reply-To: kew@bigburd.UUCP (Karen Wieckert)
Organization: sdc
Lines: 70

In article <10929@rochester.UUCP> ray@rochester.UUCP (Ray Frank) writes:
>Planned Parenthood has a new slogan, "Say 'NO' to pregnancy, Say 'YES' to 
>your future.  This was reveled to 2000 teen-agers in Washington D C recently.
>Upon reading the slogan, one realizes that Planned Parenthood and their 
>many abortion establishments is not actually telling kids to say NO to sex,
>only NO to getting pregnant.  Thus abortion is used as birth control.

I assume you mean revealed rather than reveled, although some might want to
revel in non-pregnancy :-).  

Actually, this is not strictly true.  In the mid-70's, I worked at a Planned
Parenthood center as a peer counselor when I was just a teenager.  Each
person, male or female, who came in for help had the option of seeing not
only a Planned Parenthood staffer but also a peer counselor.  It is true that
we would talk to each person about the options available for birth control;
the risks, the effectiveness, etc.  However, a fair amount of discussion
about the circumstances of the person's life would also be discussed, if the
person wanted to talk.  If they were not interested in talking about their
circumstances, it was our obligation to make their decision about an active
sex life as safe as possible and therefore gave them the birth control method
which was safest for them and of their choice.  Also, it was better to give
them an option on birth control rather than have them face the trials and
tribulations of abortion later.  

If a counselor found that there were other things the person had to deal
with, for instance incest, rape, etc, they were referred to other counseling
agencies for help in addition to the birth control counseling.  We found a
number of teenagers would start into the system of help for child abuse,
sexual assault, incest, etc by first coming to Planned Parenthood.

If appropriate to the situation, each counselor also suggested strongly that
the person consult his or her parents about the decision.  The law in the
state said that parents had a right to the information if they chose to
investigate after their children's behavior.  We also explained the law to
those who came in for counseling. 

It was best to keep the person's decisions private, in order for Planned
Parenthood to be non-threatening to young people making very difficult
decisions or in very difficult positions.

>Planned Parenthood has a $204 million budget of which more than half comes
>from the taxpayers.  They have become a rich organization.  Sort of like the
>tobacco industry.  The tobacco industry does not acknowlege the health
>hazards of tobacco, this would hurt revenues.  Similarly, PP does not
>acknowlege the health hazards of 10, 11, 12, etc year olds ingaging in
>sexual relations, this would hurt revenues and put them out of business
>where they belong.  

First, very little revenue comes in from 10, 11, and 12 year olds.  In fact,
they very rarely have the money to pay for their examinations or birth
control.  The health risks for these youngsters, both physical and mental,
are definitely acknowledged by Planned Parenthood.  That is one of the
reasons why the organization exists in the first place.

>Oh I  
>know, they usually counsel the children first, usually for about 5 or 10
>minutes before giving them pills and later an abortion when the child
>naturally forgets to take one daily, ever try to get a child to remember
>to take their vitimins daily.

Actually counseling in some cases lasted for weeks, with the person coming
in repeatedly just to talk.  This is often when the true problems would be
revealed.

>Any responsible parent would definitely tell their children not to have sex.

Guess some are just not cutting the mustard...


ka:ren