Planned Parenthood of New York City recently held a fundraising event at — surprise! — a pornography museum. Yes, that’s right. While this did not come as a shock to me, I was taken aback when a friend sent the following e-mail about it: “Planned Parenthood is evil and sick. With this, I think they just answered the question as to whether there is a link between pornography (objectification of women and men, but especially women) and abortion (murder of the most innocent). Both are evil and both are heavily connected to one another.”
Of course, our friend is correct. But the tangled web of grime and sludge, Planned Parenthood’s stock in trade, goes quite a bit deeper than that. Let’s start with the announcement of the event that was held in the Museum of Sex. I looked at the announcement from last year’s sold-out soiree, which is included in the organization’s 2008 annual report. Since this is the second year for the event, it was apparently worth repeating. And for New York City, it had all the right elements: a bar that stayed open all night, after-hours access to the exhibits, raffle prizes and live DJs. A regular party, Planned Parenthood style, complete with all the hoopla one would expect from an organization steeped in sleaze.
But upon further examination of its web site, I found out that this month, Planned Parenthood of New York City is hosting a far more egregious — and, I might suggest, deadly — activity. It is pursuing a project labeled “We’re Going To The Principal’s Office Because Real Sex Ed = Healthy Futures.”
Now that, my friends, will have a far more serious effect on the minds, hearts and souls of children than any event in a sex museum. In case we have forgotten why, let’s take a refresher course on Planned Parenthood philosophy.
At the top of the list is the money it makes by marketing birth control and assuring those who fail to use birth control properly that abortion is just around the corner, should they need it. Why, it’s as simple as using your phone to text a friend.
Then follow along and learn how PPNYC shares information with children. It sponsors a special MySpace page so teens can learn that “under NYS law a doctor can’t tell your parents or anyone else that you’ve had services such as a gynecologist exam or emergency contraception.”
It’s nice to know that PPNYC is working hard, in all the right places, to make sure youngsters are going to think twice about talking to their parents about serious problems and situations that could result in sexually transmitted disease or pregnancy. But today we would be frowned upon for calling people under the age of 17 “youngsters,” wouldn’t we? These young men and women have legally protected reproductive rights, so I guess that makes them mini-adults, even though few can even keep a room clean or finish their homework on time.
If denial of parental rights isn’t enough to get every parent out of their La-Z-Boy and into a mode of discussing daily events with their children, what is? Or could it be that parental apathy is the biggest reason why Planned Parenthood and its pals are gaining greater access to young people on a daily basis?
Parents appear to be signing their role as the first line of defense, discipline and discovery over to the school. And that, in far too many cases, means Planned Parenthood. This defies a simple explanation, but clearly, Planned Parenthood is more than happy to take over. All it needs is the opportunity. And state governments are much too willing to protect a minor’s rights to the point where parents need not apply, even if they want to be involved before there is a health crisis or a dead child.
Victor Medina, a columnist from Texas who is no stranger to controversy, has reported that there is a provision in the health care reform bill that would exacerbate this situation even more. Some argue that it would give Planned Parenthood another leg up on parents by putting school-based sex clinics in the schools. As Medina tells it:
According to the bill, a "sponsoring facility" is "a hospital, a public health department, a community health center, a nonprofit health care agency, (or) a local educational agency." Such broad wording outlining the qualifications for government funds and access to schoolchildren could open the door for groups like Planned Parenthood to operate the clinics in schools with no oversight and full federal government support. The organization currently operates over 850 clinics nationwide.
The clinics would be funded by federal grants awarded by the Obama administration, which has made it clear that they expect Planned Parenthood to play an active role in their proposed health care system. In the midst of the recent national debate this summer and during the Congressional recess over the health care plan, members of the Obama administration were meeting with Planned Parenthood staff and making strong overtures over their potential role in health care reform.
When members of Congress such as Minnesota’s Rep. Michele Bachmann, bring this sort of information to the public, the media jumps all over them. In Bachmann’s case, the left-leaning media is hard at work discrediting her comments, even though the information she described is contained in at least one of the legislative proposals.
Clearly, the problem is far greater than where PPNYC holds a fundraiser, though the choice of location says a lot about its level of decency. Or is that considered to be a bad word as well these days?
My sense is that we have not seen anything yet if, indeed, health care reform’s final version takes on the complexion of a “sex-ed-for-one-and-all” sort of law. In the meantime, there is a great deal that parents and our communities can do to stop Planned Parenthood’s bandwagon in its tracks.
To start, if you are a parent, pray for the insight needed to become a master communicator with your own children. Encourage parents of young people to learn more about properly communicating. I recommend picking up one of Dr. Ray Guarendi’s audiotapes or books.
Learn about the reasons why sex outside of marriage is a bad idea, regardless of who is selling it and the attractive packaging being presented.
And pray very hard for young parents, for their children and for an end to the madness that is currently defining our culture.