Planned
Parenthood has had a recent burst of media attention in the past couple of
months. Sure, it has always been a controversial topic on whether it's
practices should be funded or not, but lately there has more and more
information released about the program.
And only a portion of it is true.
The
purpose of this blog will be to educate you on Planned Parenthood, what it is
and why it is seen as controversial.
Especially with elections coming up, and each politician having a
different stance on the issue.
But
first, let’s talk about the history of Planned Parenthood. The program was started by Margaret Sanger, a
birth control activist in the early 1900’s.
In order to fight the Comstock Laws, which were a series of laws that
prohibited the distribution of knowledge about birth control, Sanager opened up
a birth control clinic in Brooklyn, New York.
She was tired of seeing uneducated poor women have children they didn’t
want – children that would live a life of poverty.
In 1923,
Sanager opened up the National Birthcontrol League – which would later be known
by its current name Planned Parenthood.
In 1936,
Sanager is arrested for breaking the Comstock Laws, but a surprising twist
takes place when there is a review on her arrest. Judge Augustus Hand, writing for the U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, ordered a liberalization of the Comstock laws, ruling that women should in fact have access to different methods of contraception. (x)
Ever
since then, Planned Parenthood has been providing services to assist women in
all aspects, including ones regarding birth control. The program has been under fire recently
because of society’s differentiating view on abortion.
In my
next post, I will be talking more in depth about the different types of
services Planned Parenthood provides
