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OPINIONS
Dawn Norman: Planned Parenthood provides valuable services to women
Columnist Mark Caserta probably has never needed to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic, and therefore he may be unfamiliar with the real-life work they do. Instead, he has written a column about founder Margaret Sanger's controversial opinions on eugenics.
In the real world, Planned Parenthood performs extremely valuable services for women's health. Many of these services relate to reproductive issues. I suspect Mr. Caserta may find this distasteful, but in the real world, women sometimes need health services related to STDs, birth control and pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood offers its services on a sliding scale, from full price to free. A 19-year-old man can walk away from a pregnancy he has caused, but a 19-year-old woman cannot. She will need health services, whether she can afford them or not. This fact alone should make it clear that Planned Parenthood performs valuable work in the United States.
In addition to pregnancy services, testing, and medical treatment, Planned Parenthood provides women with contraception, prenatal care and child health care. They also offer reproductive health services to men, such as vasectomies, testicular cancer screening, and STD testing and treatment.
If you are a man or woman interested in finding affordable reproductive health care, you can find a clinic locator on Planned Parenthood's Web site. There are several facilities within one to two hours of Huntington.
As a working woman, a business owner, a married mother of two and a Planned Parenthood client in the past, I fully support this organization. Planned Parenthood is not guided by Margaret Sanger's advocacy of eugenics.
Despite holding some extreme ideas, formed partly while working with immigrant women in New York in the early 20th century, Ms. Sanger was not a fan of Adolf Hitler, nor did she believe in state-controlled eugenics programs. She also did not approve of abortion, believing that access to contraception would avoid the need for it.
Much of Margaret Sanger's career was spent attempting to provide important health services such as contraception to the poor and people otherwise excluded from health care. If you or your partner has ever used a condom, diaphragm, IUD or birth control pills, you can thank Margaret Sanger.
I contribute to Planned Parenthood and suggest you do the same. Its toll-free number is 1-800-798-7092.
Dawn Norman is a Huntington resident.
