LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Planned Parenthood does not deserve your recognition, B.W. Cook, nor

does it deserve our admiration or support, “Planned Parenthood honors

four groups with Choice Award” Society, Thursday.

We cannot be sure what Margaret Sanger intended when she started the

Planned Parenthood movement in 1917, but we can be sure today of what her

vision has wrought on our country’s culture.

As the single largest abortion provider in the U.S., Planned

Parenthood clinics perform thousands of surgical abortions and, despite

their “choice” rhetoric, they don’t provide adoption referrals to all of

those women.

Planned Parenthood’s campaign to liberate women and children through

surgical choices is a shameful reflection on American liberty.

Have we advanced in any way as a nation because of Planned

Parenthood’s influence over our social and educational programs, programs

which allow a young girl who cannot receive even an aspirin from a clinic

without parental consent to receive a free and immediate abortion with no

questions asked?

Are our children more behaviorally responsible because of these

resources?

Has Planned Parenthood made life more rewarding for the women and

children of poverty? Studies and statistics, if not our consciences

alone, affirm that the answer is “no.”

Planned Parenthood’s plan is a moral and sociological failure.

How can we support an organization that encourages women to disregard

their inherent respect for life, for all stages of life? How can we call

that freedom?

If Planned Parenthood is committed to the welfare of women and

children, then I suggest they throw out all the pills and pamphlets and

procedures that they have promoted in the name of women’s rights and

adopt character and compassion as new weapons of choice.

Planned Parenthood doesn’t need your money.

With the help of federal funds, the group reported a $125.8 million

excess of revenue over expenses in its 1999 annual report.

But, to those earnest people who are truly interested in financially

supporting a culture of life and liberty, consider giving your money to a

pregnancy shelter, such as Casa Teresa in Orange, where disadvantaged

mothers are nurtured and educated through troubled pregnancies.

Or, give your money to the youth ministry program at your church or

synagogue, where people like David Lins, the youth minister at Our Lady

Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach, responsibly guides high

schoolers through weekly forums on the issues of being a teenager in the

modern world.

Or, how about giving your money to a guy like Harlan Anderson, who

teaches kids how to work up a serious sweat playing basketball at the

Boys & Girls Club of Eastside Costa Mesa?

Spend it on guitar lessons for the kid down the street. But for God’s

sake, for America’s sake, don’t give your money to Planned Parenthood. It

just isn’t right.

PEGGY NORMANDIN

Costa Mesa