Will you help save Planned Parenthood?

There are some on-line responses to my “My Turn” column which get some facts wrong.

Mr. Herb Wiens says, “I don’t see anywhere that Price (Trumps nominee for head of HHS) has said that women can’t use birth control.”

True. Women are not prohibited from using birth control if they can get it and if they can afford it. Abortion is also legal. For now.

In reply to a question about cost Price did say, “Bring me one woman who has been left behind. Bring me one. There’s not one.” False. There are many more than one.

Mr. Jim Boyer writes that there is free birth control available in North Idaho. “Google ‘free birth control” and the sites that come up are plentiful.” False. I googled free birth control in North Idaho and came up with the following: Planned Parenthood in Spokane, and Birthright International, a crisis pregnancy center with a center in Coeur d’Alene. These Crisis Pregnancy centers “pass themselves off as comprehensive reproductive health clinics, when in reality they refuse to offer abortion, birth control services, information or referrals, tricking women into entering an agenda-driven, anti-choice center.”

According to the latest data from United Nations Population Fund, 69 percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned. Therefore, experts agree that sex education is essential to address this issue. I thank local retiree Beth Allen for pointing out online that “Planned Parenthood provides all types of health services for women and newborn children who otherwise would have no healthcare whatsoever.”

Forty percent of high school students in Idaho have had sexual intercourse. (hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/states/id.html)

Since Trump is also planning to repeal Obama Care, we may see access and cost become greater factors in women’s lives. Please join me in acting to save Planned Parenthood.

NANCY GERTH

Sagle