Thursday, June 18, 2009

Planned Parenthood

This article attempts to get the word out about the many things that Planned Parenthood does. It is a major provider of health care to poor women, especially African-Americans and Latinas. It screens for cancer, provides immunizations, contraception, and STD screening and treatment. The last is important because the teen STD rate has soared.

I'd like to remind everyone that Planned Parenthood exists because of a courageous woman, Margaret Sanger. She campaigned for sex education and contraception when those things were against the law. She came to this fight from being a nurse who treated poor women. She watched too many die from having too many children, she heard them beg her for any way to prevent pregnancy. At the time it was illegal even to tell someone ANYTHING about pregnancy prevention. She suffered arrest, saw her relatives and friends arrested, and more in getting her word out and setting up a clinic for women. She is one of my heroes.

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