Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette (PPCW) served 56,000 people in 2006, according to their literature. In my opinion, they served all of us, because it greatly benefits society in general when people have access to reproductive and sexual health care. 95% of all visits to PPCW are for non-surgical services such as pregnancy prevention, annual exams, safer sex counseling, and screening/treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. The remaining 5% includes early cervical cancer treatment and tubal ligations/vasectomies, as well as early-pregnancy abortions.

PPCW is holding its Annual Benefit Luncheon next Thursday, January 18. I attended last year’s event, with Sarah Weddington giving the keynote speech. I was thrilled and honored to shake her hand. She is believed to be the youngest attorney ever to win a case before the Supreme Court, when she argued Roe v. Wade. The telegram she received on January 22, 1973 informing her of the decision was sent collect. She later served in President Jimmy Carter’s cabinet.

This year’s speaker is Sarah Stoesz. She led the successful effort to overturn the nation’s most restrictive abortion law in South Dakota, “and in the process transformed her region’s political culture” according to the event web site. I’m looking forward to hearing about that. I’ve found that pretty much everyone cares deeply about abortion. Whether we are strongly in favor of freedom of women to make reproductive choices, or strongly in favor of more societal control over those choices, we can still find areas of agreement. Most people believe that safe medical procedures are better than unsafe medical procedures. Most people agree that decisions on abortions should not be taken lightly. I’ll blog next week on whether these principles are covered in the report from South Dakota.