Ahem. A letter...to the editor.

In response to Dean Bruckner's letter to the editor (“Planned Parenthood letter included deceptive information and arguments,” Thursday, March 3), I get it. You're pro-life. That is the point of your letter, isn't it? I'm not mad at you; just trying to clear things up here. Education is the number one priority, right?

First and foremost, we all want our children to have a decent one. It all starts with an idea – a light bulb! – whether it be one based on well-formed, knowledge-based opinions or one formed on their own without any sexual guidance at all. From there we're led to the doors of Planned Parenthood – the ONLY place that a broke white female raised in upper-middle class suburbia like me could afford birth control or get an (all-important) annual exam as a young twenty-something. Without insurance or a well-groomed savings account, I couldn't even make an appointment elsewhere.

It was never a place I went for an abortion, but if one day I was presented with the choice, the resources were there. I know I have options! Why? Because they told me so. People before them told me so. Pamphlets in the lobby equally represent adoption and abortion. (For the branches that don't, I assure you they'd have the adoption pamphlets, too, if only they had the funding.)

Hard-working individuals behind the desk, behind office doors working for nothing. The hours have already been cut, but they're always willing to help, by comforting girls who have nowhere else to go, and wearing out their pointer fingers dialing for counselors for rape victims.

That's what we're willing to risk here. Planned Parenthood is not a drive-through baby-killing center – as much as some would love to make them out to be. I hold the personal belief that nothing should ever be forced upon anyone. If we are free to make our own choices, then we should rejoice in that fact. All options should be part of our education. Better education leads to fewer abortions. That's what you want, isn't it? So, teach them! Don't shut down our resources. Even you, sir, need them more than you realize.

Stephanie Leigh

Athens, Ohio


Stand with Planned Parenthood and show your support here.


The Planned Parenthood letter in the Athens News.


My very first rant...also in the Athens News.