Planned Parenthood serves as an essential resource

By: Sara Gwin

Posted: 8/6/08

In the July 23 issue of The Summer Barometer, my colleague, Dan Fitzpatrick, penned a seething attack on Planned Parenthood - in particular, the new one in the process of being built in Northeast Portland.

Like many other anti-choice zealots, Fitzpatrick equates PP solely with abortion, and even claimed "it sells people contraception that often is ineffective, so when it fails, its customers can return and demand medical treatment."

Fitzpatrick would have us believe that PP exists entirely as a conspiracy; from Margaret Sanger's supposed genocidal roots, people of color are being eradicated through abortions. And to promote more abortions, they sell or give away free birth control so women have to come in to end what her birth control method couldn't prevent.

Planned Parenthood and similar organizations are important because of the impact of the growing abstinence-only-until-marriage education in our school system, coupled with the fact that we live in a nation that is far less open about sexuality than our Western Europe counterparts and about the struggles teens face with the confluence of hitting puberty. With the seeking of independence away from parents, dating, and discovering and exploring sexuality (alone or not), it is no wonder teens may have a lot of questions about the innumerable aspects of sexuality.

It was a short time ago that I was in high school dealing with all those stressors. I remember the struggle with sifting though inaccurate information and outdated ideals of gender roles and expectations, creating boundaries amidst the pressures of peers and my own raging hormones.

At the same time, I saw my friends and acquaintances struggling with the same issues. Some experienced STIs and unplanned pregnancies; others experienced unwanted sexual encounters because they were unsure of how to say no, or their partners didn't take them seriously.

But unlike most high schools, we were lucky enough to have a PP across the street.

Some who decided to become sexuality active went there to get birth control. Aside from the initial apprehension they had about going in, they came back with free or inexpensive birth control as well as lots of great information. And it wasn't just how to use birth control effectively; it was information on what barrier methods to use alongside birth control, how to talk with a partner, how to set one's own boundaries, how to use abstinence even if one has been sexually active before, etc.

I've heard countless positive experiences from men and women who use PP. Whether or not they chose to be sexually active, the information given there empowered them to make their own choices for if and when they chose to have children.

As stated on the Planned Parenthood website, Margaret Sanger, the founder of the American Birth Control League (which, as Fitzpatrick also stated, later became known as Planned Parenthood), opened her first birth control clinic in 1916.

This was a time when contraceptives were illegal due to their "obscene" nature, not to mention a time when women still did not have the right to vote, sign contracts, have bank accounts or divorce abusive husbands.

Sanger saw the despair that can be brought about by unplanned pregnancies and illegal abortions as women desperately tried to control their sexuality without contraceptives. She wrote an underground magazine, founded a scientific journal and a research facility to study the effectiveness of contraceptives, served jail time and endured several arrests for her radical work.

Sanger said, "no woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother."

With these beliefs, she led a movement to educate people and give them access to contraceptives.

While Fitzpatrick points out Sanger's ambivalence toward abortion, he failed to include the fact that she believed abortion rights were important. In 1916, she wrote, "no one can doubt that there are times when an abortion is justifiable.... Abortions will become unnecessary when care is taken to prevent conception. [Care is] the only cure for abortions."

Oftentimes, anti-choicers label pro-choicers as "pro-abortion," or feminists as "baby-eaters" and other epithets to demonize those who support a woman's right to choose.

The truth is, I don't know anyone who is pro-abortion. They may exist, but most who are pro-choice believe what Sanger believed: that better education and access to birth control will make abortions unnecessary.

The days prior to Roe v. Wade were a nightmare for women dealing with unwanted pregnancies. I won't mortify anyone with the gory stories of botched abortions, but the passing of that court decision gave women a safe and legal option for terminating pregnancy.

I have been pro-choice as long as I can remember, especially after learning about the risks desperate women took before Roe. Earlier on, I believed that putting up restrictions would reduce abortions, but today I realize how that hurts women, especially poor women.

With anti-choice protesters picketing PPs and women's clinics, and others threatening the lives of employees and families (the reason the first construction company working on the PP in Northeast Portland pulled out, according to The Oregonian), numerous centers have been closed down.

Now women (and men) have to travel farther and farther, which disproportionately affects the poor. Add into the equation the work of anti-choice lobbying, and women have longer waiting periods to get an abortion and no access to federal funds to reduce the costs, again disproportionately affecting poor women.

As Fitzpatrick points out, PP primarily exists in low-income areas, which are predominately non-white areas. However, this is not because PP has the ulterior motive of eradicating people of color; it is because of the intersection of racial oppression and poverty that leaves some without the means to afford the necessity of reproductive health services.

PP existed in my neighborhood because I lived in the poorest area of Salem, which subsequently was the area of most diversity. While some friends of mine had the means to access information and services elsewhere, for others PP was the only affordable option to obtain the same.

It is access to birth control that allows women to access education, work, travel and many other aspects of life because of the ability to choose if and when they want to have children.

Despite Fitzpatrick's claim that PP "sells contraception that is often ineffective," with the lack of research to back that statement up, most birth control is over 99 percent effective when used correctly. Barrier methods like condoms have been proven "highly effective" by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, not to mention numerous other health organizations.

PP is not the anti-Black, violent organization that Fitzpatrick claims. It is an important organization that provides a multitude of information, birth control and barrier methods, and some provide abortions.

Whether or not a person is against a woman's right to an abortion, it is hard to imagine that a person could discount the rest of the services provided by PP.