Planned Parenthood - Religious Issue or Politics?

Applying common sense, it need not be either one.

The Planned Parenthood organization has been heavily criticized for providing abortions, but the large majority of their clients come, not for abortion, but for help in preventing pregnancy or for counseling on how to have a healthy baby. Critics should recognize that the organization also provides much needed maternal health care to low income families who have no other resource. Mentioning only one aspect of their work is unprofessional.

I have been a family physician for fifty years, and have personally delivered more than one thousand babies. I am pro-life, but also pro-choice. I choose to not do abortions, although I realize that in a few situations, one may be advisable. But if, instead of aborting an unwanted pregnancy, a pregnancy is not begun, the question of abortion does not arise.

Not every couple having sex wants to have another baby, for any of several reasons. If that is the case, it makes sense to try to keep sperm from fertilizing the egg. That way, no pregnancy happens, and there is nothing to abort.

There are several ways to accomplish this. If the man uses a condom every time, the sperm are not free to travel into the woman's uterus. Or if the woman takes “birth control pills” according to the directions, the ovary won't produce eggs, and pregnancy doesn't occur. This type of medicine is also available as an injection every three months, or an implant under the skin that lasts up to five years (but can be removed sooner on request.)

If a husband and wife already have as many children as they want, the passage way from the ovary to the  uterus can be tied off (“tube tie”) or the man's passageways from the testicles can be interrupted (“vasectomy”). Such surgery is fairly simple and permanent, although it can be undone at some expense. Once the operation heals, the sex act is just as pleasurable as it was before. And women and men can decide the size of their families.

Planned Parenthood and allied groups provide badly needed service in preventing unwanted conception, and a healthy outcome when another child is wanted. It's not like the world needs unlimited population growth. Air pollution, overcrowded slums, water shortages, increasing government bureaucracy, crime, and many other modern ills have their roots in a rapidly growing population. Good maternal and child health needs groups like Planned Parenthood. Reducing the number of unwanted conceptions is the most sensible way of reducing the number of abortions. Planned Parenthood's main goal is instructing women of childbearing age how to space their pregnancies and choose the time to have them.