REBUTTAL

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

letter about Planned Parenthood [“Letter to the Editor: 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 close-minded and uninformed helps

any of us move towards resolution.

Understandably, not everyone has a clear conception of the birth

control movement. Ms. 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 held the un-sinister belief 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, Ms. 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, Ms. Normandin is making the kind statement that makes

positive dialogue difficult. Starting in 1983 with Planned Parenthood vs

Ashcroft, the 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 v Minnesota (1990), Ohio v Akron Center for Reproductive Health

(1990), and in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v Casey

(1992). In Casey, the Court even upheld a law requiring 48 hours between

parental notification and the abortion procedure.

Finally, I agree with Ms. 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 woman 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.