Family planning services backed by most Americans, activist says
Planned Parenthood leader is keynote speaker at Utahns for Choice benefit meetingMost Americans support access to family planning services. But to ensure continued access, they must become politically astute and active.
That's the view of Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Gloria Feldt, who will be keynoting the annual benefit for Utahns for Choice tonight. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Salt Lake Hardware Building, 105 N. 400 West in Salt Lake City.Utahns for Choice lobbies for Planned Parenthood of Utah.
The national organization is in its second year of a national campaign called "Responsible Choices Action Agenda," she said in a telephone interview. The focus is three-pronged: improving the quality of reproductive health, increasing services that prevent unintended pregnancy and ensuring access to abortion. All of those hinge on the electorate getting involved.
"We want people not only to vote but to be informed voters," she said. "We have found that, overwhelmingly, majorities of people support Planned Parenthood, the organization, and access to family planning services. They believe the government shouldn't tell them what to do about childbearing decisions, and they support responsible sex education for young children.
"Often, though, those are not the issues candidates focus on, so citizens don't know where they stand. We encourage citizens to be informed, and we help to inform them."
People who support reproductive choice are not a one-issue group, Feldt said. They care passionately about a range of issues. But "we believe the issue of choice and support for family planning are issues that are bottom-line issues. People need to say 'this is a core value that we want our candidates to have -- although not the only one.' "
Being pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion, Feldt said. "Choice means choice. We have respect for all choices. But for people to be able to make a responsible choice, they must have complete information presented in a nonbiased and nonjudgmental way."
According to Utahns for Choice, a recent poll found that 71 percent of Utah voters favor increasing public funding for family planning services and counseling to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and to prevent the need for abortions.
Almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned, said Beverley Cooper, executive director of Utahns for Choice. "It is vitally important that access to family planning be protected. It is our goals at Utahns for Choice that each child be a planned and wanted child."