Planned Parenthood Staff Fights Sex Crimes the Wrong Way

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In January 2011 private sting operations were performed at twelve Planned Parenthood clinics in six states and secret videos were made. In one of them, Kimberley (a PP health technician), explains how to get birth control and abortions for underage sex workers. 

 

The videos were released in February by an anti-abortion group called Live Action. A man posing as a pimp asked about STD testing and once they got into a private room, he began asking questions – in confidence – about getting help for ‘his girls.’ 

 

Planned Parenthood staff are all too aware of the anti-abortion movement that constantly peppers the organization with whatever stings it can find on a daily basis. Kimberley said she was suspicious of who they were, but answered all their questions fully before calling the FBI upon the actors’ departure. 

 

Jobs Were Lost Over This 

She, along with technicians at the other clinics visited, was trying to do what she thought was right. But, when Planned Parenthood’s bigwigs saw the videos they immediately fired one New Jersey clinic manager, Amy Woodruff, for her seeming cooperation with the actors. 

 

Even if Woodruff’s intent was to trick them into giving information by being cooperative, her response to the actors went against everything Planned Parenthood stands for and it was shown to the public. 

 

Anyone watching those videos would believe Planned Parenthood is a help to sex trafficking schemes and not agents who work daily to protect people from STDs, unwanted pregnancy, birth control and sexual abuse. Now states are voting not to fund Planned Parenthood in eight states, so far, using these videos as part of their artillery.

 

 

Filed Under: Contraception, Parenthood Tagged With: , ,

Revisiting the Issue of Abortion

 

 

WASHINGTON - APRIL 07: Albert Stecklein III, a... 


Organizations like Planned Parenthood have come under fire as being pro-abortion corporations. Indeed, many have balked at the fact that teenagers often do not even need a parents signature in order to get an abortion. Behind the rhetoric however is a real problem. Children very early on in teenage years are getting pregnant and then need to decide if they will become moms or terminate the pregnancy. Those looking to terminate the pregnancy will usually end up in small clinic for a day procedure. Here are a couple points in favor of keeping things the way they are and keeping abortion legal.

1.) Outlawing abortions could take the practice underground- No one like the idea of an abortion. Not the public as a whole and not the young women in stirrups about to get an abortion. But the fact remains there are a number of unwanted pregancies each year that require a solution. Closing abortion clinics would no doubt force the practice underground and increase the liklihood of things going wrong and the mom being hurt.

2.) A mother’s right to choose- The fact remains that there are many women who get pregnant and did not plan on those circumstances. It is a woman’s right to choose and control what happens to her body as well as to choose if she will be forced to raise a child when she knows she may not be competent and ready for the task. As individuals, it is important we be allowed freedoms over our body and not have decisions of this magnitude made without our input.

Filed Under: Contraception, Parenthood Tagged With: , ,

Making Those Hard Decisions

Planned Parenthood is an ideal organization for those who need a bit of help in making those hard decisions. Often, having a child can be one of the best experiences a person can have. In other cases, though, it can be very untimely. What your personal beliefs are in having children, or the amount of control you should have over it, are important to explore. Then, reach out and get help and guidance if you need it.

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What to Think About

Before having a child, consider all aspects of it, including the massive changes it will have on your life. Take a close look at yourself but also consider the following things.

  • Are you healthy enough to have children? Many people spend a great deal of time trying to conceive and find out that they are not healthy enough to do so. Get a physical from your doctor before you begin this process.
  • Learn about your ability to create a family. Bringing a child into this world is not as easy to just getting pregnant. You also have to be able to provide a healthy family for your child to prosper in. Learn how to have a strong family.
  • Pregnancy itself can change you, and your body. For this reason, take the steps necessary to learn about these changes. You may want to explore how those changes make you feel, too.

If you decide to have a child, realize that you will learn as you go. There is no guide that will give you all of the information you need for every situation that happens. However, most parents will learn to make the right decisions.

Filed Under: Parenthood, Planning Tagged With: , ,

Panned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that provided information about reproductive health care, sex education and other general information to men, women and young people across the world. Planned Parenthood helps individuals make informed and individual decisions about sex, health and planning their families by promoting an approach to women’s health and well-being based on common sense and reality.

Planned Parenthood reaches out to the community by means of 85 affiliates throughout the United States which are governed locally and provide more than 820 health centers. The primary goal of these health centers is to provide primary care that is preventative in nature including promoting contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies, testing and treatment to reduce the spread of diseases that are sexually transmitted and screening for cervical and other cancers.  A trusting environment is established in which physicians, nurse practitioners and other staff care about their clients and take the time to speak with them about such health-related issues.

There is also an educational aspect to Planned Parenthood. The organization holds a wide variety of educational programs throughout the year that provide young people with honest information about sexuality and relationships. Programs are available in classrooms and information is posted online whose purpose is to reduce the high rates of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. Planned Parenthood hopes that by providing such information women, men, teenagers and families will be able to make knowledgeable decisions and have healthy reproductive and sexual lives.

Planned Parenthood also works with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where often access to important information about reproductive and health care of a sexual nature is blocked, to overcome these obstacles and increase access to education about health care. The organization works with local leadership to develop health and education programs as well as legal, social and political improvements in nations worldwide. Planned Parenthood also works with the United States government to insure that the sexual health and well-being of families and individuals is improved around the world

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Getting Yourself Insurance to Cover Birth Control

Having a family is a joyous thing. It’s the goal of people all over the world to have a family. For many, though, they might find that having a family when they aren’t ready can turn a beautiful dream into a stressful nightmare. Kids are best cared for when they are planned for and are brought into a loving home that has the resources and the mindset to provide and love. Without those things, it could make for a rough road.

For married couples who are putting off having children, it’s important to invest in birth control. Birth control can range from condoms, to pills, to vaginal devices. No matter the preferred method of contraception, it’s important to get protection. Having protection allows you to save money and plan properly to have kids in the future. For those that believe birth control is expensive, the reality is that most insurance covers a variety of birth control methods. In most cases, birth control will be covered except for a reasonable co-payment. If you are not insured, then now is the time to do it.

Before you purchase insurance, you need to compare insurance quote prices from three or four different companies. Make sure that you set your policy limits and deductibles the same so that the quote is an accurate figure. Once you do that, then you should be able to determine which monthly premium works out the best for you and your spouse.

Insurance is a necessary step in providing not only good health care, but financial protection against soaring health care costs. For yourself and your spouse, it’s important to save the money you can and hold off having kids till you are both comfortable. You want the best for your future children, so be at your best.

Filed Under: Planning, Pregnancy, Prenatal Care Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Help Is Out There

It is ironic really, that a civilization as advanced and cultured as ours still hides from the subject of sexual health and birth control. Our children are becoming sexually active at a younger age and more and more are facing adult issues before they are truly ready to. Finding resources to assist with education and options is critical.

Planned Parenthood is just such an organization. It offers its clients information, assistance and the tools they need to practice safe sex. The organization does, in fact, offer help and assistance to its clients, but still, at least to some extent, it is still at the center of a great deal of controversy. There are organizations that oppose it and believe that the information and help it gives out is wrong.

Still, the rising rate of STD’s and teenage pregnancy tell us that something may be done. Planned Parenthood offers safe advice to its clients. Whether a teenager is interested in birth control options or an unwed mother needs help exploring their options, having a resource such as this available is an important part of any community.

Perhaps parents or schools should be the primary resource for sexual health information. Unfortunately, this doesn’t often happen. In a world where birth control is almost fool proof and scientific research has explained how each STD is transmitted and how to prevent it, there simply isn’t a reason to have rising unplanned pregnancies and higher than ever STD rates.

Until such time that these issues are handled completely by parents or schools for ALL children, Planned Parenthood is necessary. Some may view it as a necessary evil, but it is necessary. Your local Planned Parenthood office offers all the resources that are needed to practice safe sex including information on sexually transmitted diseases and even birth control.

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Who Was Margaret Sanger?

Margaret Sanger was born in 1879 to a very large family. Her mother had 18 pregnancies and 11 children, presumably because she had no way to access any sort of contraceptives. Sanger’s mother passed away at the young age of 48 from tuberculosis and cervical cancer. After nursing her mother through her illness, Margaret Sanger enrolled in nursing school, and later spent several years working among the poverty-stricken slums of New York City.

Deeply affected by her mother’s condition, Sanger was drawn to working with women in need. She found herself working with poor and immigrant women in 1912, and saw that because they had no way to prevent pregnancies, these women were constantly adding to their families and driving themselves deeper into poverty.

There were few health care options for women in those days. Even for women who afford to see doctors, it was illegal for the doctors to discuss or dispense contraceptives, which were considered obscene material. When a friend of Sanger’s died from a self-administered abortion, Sanger felt that something needed to be done to give women control over their own bodies.

She began publishing a newsletter advocating for women’s’ rights to obtain and use contraceptives, as well as several books on sexual health topics. She also traveled to Europe and Japan researching new contraceptive methods, and in 1916 opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Following her arrest and release from jail, she devoted herself to changing the archaic laws that prohibited women from using birth control.

In 1921 she founded the American Birth Control League, which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. After serving as their president from 1952 to 1959, she traveled throughout the United States establishing clinics and promoting the newly created birth control pill. Sanger died in 1966 after finally seeing many of the restrictive anti-contraceptive laws overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States.

Filed Under: Advice, Parenthood, Planning Tagged With: , , ,

Margaret Sanger’s Legacy

After watching her mother suffer the consequences of almost constant pregnancy and caring for her in her final days, Margaret Sanger became a nurse and worked almost exclusively with low-income women. She was particularly sympathetic to women who were unable to obtain and use birth control and who therefore had no control over their bodies or their reproductive functions. She also saw firsthand the effects of illegal and self-induced abortions resulting from the inability to access contraceptives and the lack education on sexual matters.

Sanger had to resort to defying the laws of the time in order to help women access this most intimate and basic right. Shortly thereafter, she founded a national organization, the American Birth Control League, which was committed to not only providing access to birth control but also to fighting for reproductive freedom. Her organization later became the Planned Parenthood Federation.

Through her life, Sanger amassed millions of letters from women who needed birth control advice and shared their desperate stories. Many of these letters were complied into book form as a testament to the need for legal contraceptives and reproductive education.

Planned Parenthood is constantly fighting for women’s rights and continually challenging restrictions on reproductive rights and education. While various political and social groups attempt to eliminate reproductive freedom and to move backwards with education and gender equality, Planned Parenthood pursues legal and political channels to uphold these rights.

Planned Parenthood also challenges the validity of faulty or unscientific studies, and makes sure that women use legitimate study results in making their health choices. It is also one of the largest providers of sex education, and discourages the promotion of ineffective education programs hide or distort the truth.

Margaret Sanger’s legacy continues today as Planned Parenthood provides millions of women and men with the information and services she fought so hard to bring to them.

Filed Under: Advice, Parenthood, Planning Tagged With: , , ,

Confidential Health Advice and Services For Teens

Some teens enjoy a completely open and honest relationship with their parents in which they can discuss anything. But many teenage girls, especially sexually active ones, simply can’t bring this subject up, even with their moms. As many times as their parent may have said “you can ask me anything”, most teenagers are understandably uncomfortable discussing their sexual experience with their parents.

This can lead to problems if young women have concerns about pregnancy, birth control, or sexually transmitted diseases. They may also need to talk about relationship issues such as pressure to become sexually active, or other intimate problems.

Most cities have a Planned Parenthood office, which is available to anyone who needs access to information regarding women’s health and welfare. In addition to being completely confidential, Planned Parenthood staff is highly sensitive to the needs of young women, particularly those who have nowhere else to turn. In addition to providing birth control contraceptive education, the clinics also offer a wide variety of counseling and informative services.

Teens with any concerns about their sexual heath and welfare should always feel safe contacting a Planned Parenthood office. It can be scary to sort out birth control options on their own, and they may not feel comfortable talking to their family physician. Planned Parenthood provides basic gynecological exams and testing for STDs, pregnancy, and other female issues. For young women who may be worried about body image, depression or substance abuse, Planned Parenthood counselors can openly and honestly discuss these issues and provide women with referrals and information.

Sometimes all she needs is adult reassurance that everything going on with her body is normal. Planned Parenthood has been providing these confidential services for nearly 100 years. Teens should never hesitate to start at Planned Parenthood for any concerns about sexuality or gynecological issues.

Filed Under: Advice, Prenatal Care, Sexual Health Tagged With: , ,

What To Expect During Your First Visit To Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood often serves as the only health resource for teens and women without access to gynecological care or birth contraceptives. For those seeking birth control for the first time, talking to someone about private information can be a scary experience.

First, remember that Planned Parenthood staff are passionate about what they do and the services they provide. They are skilled at putting the patient at ease and know that many women have never talked to anyone about sexual matters before. There is no need to be nervous in that regard.

A counselor will explain the clinic’s policies and payment options, which are usually based on sliding scale. They will then take your basic medical information and history. If you are seeking contraceptives, the practitioner will discuss your needs and lifestyle to help you decide on the most appropriate method.

Most initial visits include a video or presentation about Planned Parenthood, women’s health, and a demonstration pelvic exam. You may also need to provide a urine sample. The medical exam will consist of checking your blood pressure and heart rate, listening to your chest and lungs, feeling your neck to check your thyroid, a breast exam, pelvic exam and pap smear. If you will be getting a diaphragm, cervical cap or ring, she will check internally for the proper fit.

After the exam, the practitioner will give you instructions on your birth control method and schedule your follow up. The clinic will provide you with your pills or contraceptive devices; there is no need to go to a drugstore to have a prescription filled.

It is important to be honest during your visit. Drinking, smoking, drug use and your lifestyle can impact the effectiveness of certain birth control methods. Planned Parenthood is committed to privacy and confidentiality, so be sure you give accurate information in order to maintain your sexual health.

Filed Under: Parenthood, Planning, Sexual Health Tagged With: , ,
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