Facility will offer important services
I am delighted that Planned Parenthood Chicago Area is building in Aurora and planning to offer services in the Fox Valley area. The goal of Planned Parenthood clinics is to prevent disease and unintended pregnancy by helping people understand sexual health and act responsibly. Most of their services prevent abortion. They offer affordable health services to poor women who otherwise cannot afford them.
Unfortunately, the name Planned Parenthood is like a red flag waved in front of a bull to pro-life activists who are demonstrating. I feel like the demonstrators are part of a conspiracy to intimidate staff, patients and supporters of the organization. This charitable organization unfortunately has to spend money on security and now lawyers in order to function. Had the organization been open about the purpose of the building during construction it might have put construction workers at risk or caused long expensive delays.
Planned Parenthood has been providing family planning services for more than 50 years, I know because I used the Philadelphia clinic when my husband was in graduate school in 1960 and my third child was expected before either of us had a full-time job. That clinic referred me to a clinic in Rhode Island so we could plan to postpone a fourth pregnancy. When we lived in Massachusetts in the early '60s there was a law against giving out birth control information so I went first to Providence, R.I. and later to Albany, N.Y. Fortunately the women of Massachusetts didn't tolerate that situation forever. People should not impose their religious beliefs on others.
Our cars and most homes are not big enough, and some people do not have enough patience to manage an unlimited number of children. I have heard, "God only gives you as many children as you can care for." But I believe God intends for us to use doctors and medicines as well as responsible behavior as we plan to care for our families. Why don't the busy bodies demonstrate against suggestive clothing and sex on daytime TV instead of targeting a clinic whose purpose is to make requests for abortion rare.
Ellen McDonald
South Elgin