Contraception is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Planned Parenthood. The organization has built its reputation around safe sex for almost 90 years, when it opened the first birth control clinic when abortions and oral contraceptives were illegal and sexually active women had few options. As a way to stand up for women’s rights and change society’s perceptions of sex, Margaret Sanger, devout Catholic and founder of Planned Parenthood, put the program at the forefront of the fight for sexual rights.
Now as the program’s mission has expanded and their target audience has grown beyond the female population to include men and teens, it can be expected that Planned Parenthood would gain even more support if they changed their name to facilitate a better image that is not only more attractive to those who seek their services, but also promotes their overall goals.
Today, the organization continues Sanger’s original mission, but now addresses more issues like sexual education reform, promoting yearly STI screenings, ensuring health care access and targeting reproductive rights in Africa, Asia and South America. Their services also have expanded to include free counseling and screenings for STIs members of the community.
Similar government-sponsored programs in Canada and Korea have already changed their name to be more representative as sexual health agencies intended to support society. For example, currently Korea is suffering from an age epidemic because they have the lowest fertility rate in the world and to stabilize social growth the Planned Parenthood of Korea stopped offering abortions.
After the change in policy, Planned Parenthood of Korea changed their name to Planned Population Federation. The new name helps to conjure up a better idea of the organization’s mission for members of the community still willing to seek their services. However, since the program is one of the largest and more influential of its kind in Korea, it can be expected to influence the current issues.
Since the U.S. version of Planned Parenthood has actually added more services, their name should reflect the change. As the first and largest government-sponsored program of its kind with over 840 health centers across the nation, the organization can reach out to even more members of the population with a name that no longer seems inclusive to women looking to start families but responsible adults who are having sex.
In 2005, the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada had changed their name to the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health despite their Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa affiliates keeping the old name.
In an article written by the Toronto Globe and Mail report, PPFC Executive Director Linda Capperauld said members sought a name change to update the image of the organization. She said that a focus research group showed that the Planned Parenthood name misrepresented the group’s message and services among younger respondents and the general public.
“A lot of young people thought they would only turn to us if they were ready to start having children. They didn’t see that we had a much broader focus and broader range of services,” said Capperauld.
The situation in Canada is still very similar to what is happening in the U.S. today. Planned Parenthood is government sponsored as well as an organization more people tend to feel comfortable with since it has been around so long – all the more reason the directors should change the name.
Issues like teen pregnancy, AIDS, sexual abuse and reproductive rights were still taboo in the time of Sanger but now are being discussed and brought to life by Planned Parenthood. In the past year, 36 percent of the organization’s health services were with contraception, 31 percent STD testing and treatment, 17 percent cancer screening and prevention, and only 3 percent abortion services. So why not choose a name that reminds people of what else the group offers the community?
Also as an organization that is set to promote healthy relationships using the word Parenthood might conjure up the retro image of a house wife and blue-collared husband. This idea completely overlooks the main population between the ages of 15 and 25 that the organization assists and as well as the large portion of families without health insurance looking for alternatives for inexpensive medical assistance. The name Planned Parenthood also implies that the services are only for heterosexual couples excluding those in the gay community.
By changing the name to something like The American Sex and Reproductive Agency, the government would be able to have their services appeal to a larger spectrum of society as well as address more sex issues.
Planned Parenthood was formerly the American Birth Control League and they changed the name in 1942, because the ABCL was to known for their attachment to eugenics and the Nazis. Margaret Sanger was the founder of the ABCL and Planned Parenthood and was a racist eugenicist. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in this topic get a copy of a stunning 2 hour documentary called: Maafa21 Black Genocide in 21st Century America . The producers of Maafa21 went directly to the source, researching the information from the papers of Margaret Sanger , Planned Parenthood, their board, and their eugenic supporters. Maafa21 shows evidence that Margaret Sanger –
( who hated Catholics because they were ‘charitable’ to the poor whom she despised) founder of Planned Parenthood was a member of the American Eugenics Society (AES), spoke to their meetings, met with their VP’s and also spoke at a Klan meeting then, according to her own autobiography, Sanger received at least a dozen additional invites to speak to the Klan. Many additional Planned Parenthood members were Eugenics Society members, including Alan Guttmacher, who was at one time the Vice President of the AES. Maafa21 will tell you things the media and the government do not want you to hear. Maafa21 traces back in history all the way to slavery. The film covers the Eugenic topic very well and has an emotional interview with an African American woman who was eugenically sterilized in North Carolina. One of the men who helped fund the North Carolina Eugenics Project was none other than Clarence Gamble the same person Margaret Sanger wrote to in a letter, “We do not want word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” Gamble also funded Sanger’s work. Maafa21, will show that Sanger was friends with people who corresponded with Hitler and that many in the American Eugenics movement were praised by Hitler. Maafa21 will show connections to Kaiser Wilhem and a man named Eugen Fischer. Maafa21 is stunning and I highly recommend it. Get a preview of Maafa21 here ( Warning the film plays Racist Quotes from these people ) http://www.maafa21.com
Even if Sanger founded PP with the intent of a eugenics program, that is no longer what it is by any means. I have been to a PP center with my girlfriend, and it accurately reflected the normal population demographic of where i live. My girlfriend and I are both Caucasian. I have a family friend who works for them at their Houston, Texas branch. Their goal is not racist in any way. It is what it says it is, a resource for sexually active people. Sexually active by no means sexually knowledgeable. A number of people have such a lack of sexual education, they do not even know the proper names for the reproductive organs, and merely go about using euphemisms. Planned Parenthood is a resource to be used by anyone who wishes, not a weapon for a hidden eugenics war.
“Anti-abortion activists are screening an expertly-made documentary to black audiences across the country. Maafa 21 creates a highly selective, distorted history of the reproductive rights movement and frames abortion as a tool of eugenics and genocide.
Opponents of abortion would like to set themselves against the most callous eugenicists, but in fact the two sides have a lot in common: both see women as incapable of making their own choices, and so resort to coercion.”
–http://religiondispatches.org/archive/2341
Maafa 21 tries to make current Planned Parenthood look racist, but really those who try to limit the resources of this organization by claiming eugenics and “black genocide” should be viewed as the future destroyers of black and minority communities. How do we expect removing educational and sexual resources (free condoms, birth control) to help? It will hinder those who may become pregnant or have other complications due to sexual relations that interfere with future goals. What we need (for ALL people) is better access to these resources, not to take them away.
Also, the fact that Maafa 21 was the first comment on here suggests that this is a very organized group and probably already has roots into Cal Poly’s community. I encourage other students to confront the promoters of this group, as I’m sure we’ve just seen the beginning. Next will be 20ft displays on Dexter lawn.
I don’t know how this turned into a conversation about eugenics.. but Planned Parenthood is a great organization that provides sexual/reproductive health services regardless of race, sexuality, gender, etc. and this article touches on the interesting issue of how the name doesn’t necessarily fit. It’s especially interesting to see how it’s dealt with cross culturally!
Obviously the person bashing Planned Parenthood has never needed their services. Think people only go there for abortions? Think again. Most of us go there because it’s the only way we can get our yearly exams and health screenings in this area for reduced cost. [and just so you know, I’m middle class and white, so stop your prejudices right now]
If not for the free annual exams, i might have gotten cervical cancer. It runs in my family, and the early screening caught it before it spread.
If we follow the trail of these attacks on Planned Parenthood we eventually arrive at the foot of the Pope in Rome. The Catholic Church is determined to ban abortion, divorce, birth control, homosexuality and a lot of other things in this country and in every other country.
This article (regret that most comments have diverted to other topics) is a key idea in the survival of the Planned Parenthood agency. In absolute truth, lawmakers still think of PP as PRIMARILY a place to enable free sex by offering birth control, abortion (unpaid by the fed govt notwithstanding) and STD testing. In fact, I would guess that most individuals have no idea of the broad number of health services routinely rendered by PP. Also, one can drive a truck through Title X on which PP was based. It’s time to change PP through and through. A name change that TRULY reflects its value and comprehensive services is completely necessary to its political survival.