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Special to Community Papers

The Bottom Line on Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood moves into another Kentucky community--whether they're wanted or not.

by Richard Nelson

            Planned Parenthood, the organization known for pushing condoms to kids without their parent's permission, is now poised to push its way into Owensboro regardless of public opinion.

            Louisville Planned Parenthood Executive Director Ted Clingner brashly told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer earlier in the year, "We'd like to have supporters in the community, but honestly, the decision will be on the basis of what we perceive is the need. Once we make up our mind to go ahead, we'll go ahead."

            Seldom do businesses force their way into places they are not wanted, but Planned Parenthood is among those daring few that seems not to have learned its lesson.  Fewer than four years ago it tried to expand into Henderson, but closed "due to lack of interest," according to Carol Ryan, the director of Evansville Planned Parenthood. 

            Perhaps public opinion means something after all.

            Since Planned Parenthood is the nation's single largest abortion provider, it is to be expected that local pro-life organizations such as Action Life League of Western Kentucky would oppose its Owensboro expansion project. But it may come as a surprise that the local health department is also opposing it. 

            "[Planned Parenthood] is working under the guise that there is community support here," said Green River District Health Department Director Lamone Mayfield.  "They are not coming here to meet a need but to further their agenda." Mayfield said that Planned Parenthood isn't needed in Owensboro since they would simply duplicate services already provided.  "We don't believe they could offer anything we [don't] already," said Mayfield.

            So what's the agenda?  It seems the Health Department isn't trumpeting loud enough the availability of emergency contraception (EC). When used within 72 hours of unprotected sex, EC prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg.  Pro-choice proponents call it a form of birth control.   Pro-life advocates call it an abortifacient.  In either case, should Planned Parenthood move in, emergency contraception will likely become widely available to Owensboro's young people--in many cases without their parent's knowledge.

            There is a concerted effort by Planned Parenthood and others in the Commonwealth to make EC widely available to young people, but shouldn't we be asking if promoting EC really helps kids?  What about the myriad of sexually transmitted diseases that EC doesn't protect against?  And wouldn't easier access to EC provide a false sense of security and aid promiscuity?

            EC is a band-aid approach to a cancerous wound in our culture--the idea that values-free, no-consequence sex can be safely found somewhere besides a 30-minute sit-com.  But casual sex affects real people, not fictional characters who can exit the stage to polite applause.  The values-free sex education that Planned Parenthood has been peddling to our kids for decades is why Owensboro residents who draw the line at their city borders deserve the real applause.

            More fodder for opponents is that Planned Parenthood is a profit-driven business with big money in mind rather than individual care.  Planned Parenthood earned $454 million in profit over the last 15 years, according to Ed Szymkowiak of Stop Planned Parenthood.  In the year 2000, they earned nearly $69 million dollars (roughly 30 percent of their income)  for performing 197,070 abortions, according to Szymkowiak  But they earned perhaps twice as much disrtibuting birth control--some pretty impressive bottom line figures for an organization that claims its only trying to help kids.

            So while Planned Parenthood probes the expansion into Western Kentucky, shouldn't we ponder whether they will seriously improve young peoples lives, or are they merely looking for a new market in which to improve their own financial future?

Richard Nelson is a policy analyst and western Kentucky regional representative for The Family Foundation of Kentucky.  He resides in Trigg county with his wife and three children.