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In 1995 a young unmarried woman entered the Arlington Road Planned Parenthood clinic suspecting that she was pregnant. Initially all she wanted was the free test. After getting a positive on the pregnancy test a counselor immediately met with her. Learning the client's circumstances which included a non-supportive family, a partner who was much older and married to another woman, the counselor offered the option of abortion. Armed with this information the girl told her family that she was pregnant. The attitude of the family was extremely hostile; the boyfriend was unsupportive and abusive. The teenager subsequently lost her job, had her vehicle repossessed, and found herself homeless. The services of abortion offered by Planned Parenthood seemed like the only option to end her misery. As our community discusses the recent addition of a Planned Parenthood clinic in our school district, I would like to note a few points of concern. 1. I originally thought The Planned Parenthood clinic located in Charlottesville was a resource for all types of family planning including desired pregnancy, but after researching the website and other publications, I have since discovered that the only services provided other than birth control and abortion are referrals to services such as the Health Department and Pregnancy Help Center. In fact although available in other areas, the Charlottesville clinics have done nothing for mothers who exercised the option of maintaining a pregnancy despite whatever difficulties it imposed (Chart of Services). 2. I am sure all of us present know the name Planned Parenthood does not evoke thoughts of happy young families in the delivery room. Although planning a family is a wonderful happy event, the focus of this clinic is on prevention. I certainly think our youth needs effective education and resources for prevention, but I hope that most families would agree that abortion is not the preferred avenue. Rather, as a community who emphasizes education, I feel that we should focus on prevention through discussion and creative youth activities that focus on family. 3. In another publication titled Fact Sheet, I discovered that the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, PPFA, has instituted a training program in Virginia where interns can learn the skill of successful abortion procedures (PPFA). This is of great concern to me as a woman. Who is performing these procedures? Why should our women be study vehicles at this difficult emotional time in their lives? And does this focus make a clinic more interested in performing the abortion than helping a woman to truly consider her options? 4. The location of the new Planned Parenthood clinic is within walking distance to our most populated high school Albemarle High, and on the bus route for Jack Jouett Middle school, Greer and Agnor-Hurt elementary schools. The former locations on Arlington and Pantops seemed to maintain a slightly less conspicuous operation. Is the focus of this office to provide more access to our local youth? Although our state requires children under the age of eighteen to have parental consent before getting an abortion, the services link on the home page for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, PPBR, gives instructions for how to avoid that stipulation: "If you cannot obtain the consent of your parent or guardian, you can meet with a judge who may allow the abortion to be performed without parental consent" (PPBR). At least if the clinic were in a less obvious location we as families would have more opportunity to privately educate our children and present options before they make the decision to go to Planned Parenthood. I raise the question to our community; knowing the business of Planned Parenthood, if this clinic is a necessary addition, how can we protect our impressionable children from witnessing that business? And for women like the one introduced in the beginning? She is me. I find it hard to explain to my eldest son the difficult choice I made after leaving Planned Parenthood that day in 1995. The choice I made to go against my family, the counselor's advice, and almost everyone I talked with, to maintain my pregnancy, and provide the world with a healthy gifted child, without the services of Planned Parenthood. Daisy Stevens Rojas, November 9, 2004 Works Cited Chart of Services. Chart. Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. 25 May
2004. Daisy Stevens Rojas (electronic mail, November 10, 2004) Note: Daisy Stevens Rojas also writes (electronic mail, November 10, 2004): Please consider that it is a personal experience I related only because
of the impact I feel as a resident in the zone of Planned Parenthood. I
hope you will be respectful of my feelings and others of those who may not
agree with your position. It was disturbing to hear the disrespectful jeers
and remarks yesterday during some of the speeches. We all had equal opportunity
to express our views whether they sounded silly or difficult to understand.
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