Rebuttal

I was deeply saddened when I read Peggy Normandin’s inflammatory

letter about Planned Parenthood (“Planned Parenthood is not honorable

group,” Jan. 30).

I understand that many in this country disagree with the morality of

allowing legal abortions, but what I do not understand is how being

closed-minded and uninformed helps any of us move toward resolution.

Understandably, not everyone has a clear conception of the

birth-control movement. Normandin asserted that while “we cannot be sure

what Margaret Sanger intended when she started the Planned Parenthood

movement in 1917 . . . we can be sure today of what her vision has

wrought on our country’s culture.”

I would argue to the contrary, that in fact Sanger’s motives were

quite clear in 1921 when she started the American Birth Control League.

She believed that “no woman can call herself free who does not own and

control her own body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose

consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.”

Further, Normandin accused Planned Parenthood of allowing “a young

girl who cannot receive even an aspirin without parental consent to

receive a free and immediate abortion.”

With that, Normandin is making the kind of statement that makes

positive dialogue difficult. Starting in 1983 with Planned Parenthood of

Kansas City vs. Ashcroft, the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently upheld

state laws requiring the parental consent of at least one of the minor’s

parents or a ruling from a judge that the minor is mature enough to make

the decision to terminate her pregnancy.

These rules regulating a minor’s access to abortion were upheld in

Hodgson vs. Minnesota (1990), Ohio vs. Akron Center for Reproductive

Health (1990) and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania vs.

Casey (1992). In the final case, the court even upheld a law requiring 48

hours between parental notification and the abortion procedure.

Finally, I agree with Normandin that this country has done a great

disservice to many of the women and children that live here. However, I

respectfully submit that guaranteeing all women the right to birth

control and helping them to terminate their pregnancies if they so desire

is not anti-women’s rights or even a “moral or sociological failure.”

I embrace debate about the morals of Planned Parenthood as long it is

about the facts and not rhetoric.

* STEFANIE WARREN is a Newport Beach resident.