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Way to Go, Planned Parenthood
Townhall.com ^ | November 10, 2009 | Dr. Miriam Grossman, M.D

Posted on 11/10/2009 5:53:37 AM PST by Kaslin

In the battle over sex education, Planned Parenthood claims the high ground in providing accurate information and protecting reproductive health. Their homepage states, “We deliver comprehensive and medically accurate information that empowers women, men, teens, and families to make informed choices and lead healthy lives.”

As a physician who has spent hundreds of hours with young people with sexually transmitted infections, I’m on a one-woman mission to expose the falsehood of those claims. Planned Parenthood’s sexual health education is not comprehensive or medically accurate; to the contrary, this eminent, federally funded organization endangers lives by withholding critical biological truths.

Consider the advice given young people by their VP of Medical Affairs, Vanessa Cullins.

Dr. Cullins, an obstetrician-gynecologist, has gone on YouTube to declare, “Expect to have HPV once you become sexually intimate – all of us get it.” So make sure you’re vaccinated, she advises kids, and get screened for cervical cancer.

How can a medical doctor, an expert in women’s health, make this preposterous assertion?

It’s as if the American Medical Association announced: “Expect to have diabetes once you hit a certain age - all of us do”, while omitting the fact that with proper diet and exercise, the condition can be avoided.

Dr Cullins knows that one can remain free of the human papillomavirus – along with every other sexually transmitted infection - without taking a lifelong vow of chastity. One simply has to delay sexual behavior, find someone who also waited, and then remain monogamous. She knows that couples fortunate enough to have done so will be forever free of genital warts, blisters, discharges and abnormal Pap tests; they are spared the awkward sharing of “sexual histories”; what to tell and when; doctor’s appointments and medications; getting poked, swabbed, stuck, and biopsied; and always wondering: Am I getting another outbreak? Will I give warts to my spouse? Will the virus affect my baby?

If Planned Parenthood was genuinely committed to reproductive health and accurate information, here’s what Dr. Cullins would have said on YouTube:

Sexually transmitted infections are 100% avoidable. Your sexual behavior, including your partner choice, will determine the risk to your health. The following factors place you at high risk for HPV, even with 100% condom use:

-Being a sexually active teen girl, or any male who has sex with other males

-Initiating sexual behavior at a young age,

-Having multiple partners,

-Having sex with someone who has had multiple partners.

Other facts you need to know about this virus:

-Smoking and/or use of hormonal contraceptives may increase the risk of HPV infection in teen girls.

-Unlike girls, guys are not routinely screened for HPV. So even if his STD testing came back negative, a guy can unknowingly give you this virus, even if he uses a condom.

-HPV can be transmitted during oral sex, and can cause cancers of the throat.

Any sex educator who omits these facts is not providing comprehensive, medically accurate information. Far from empowering young people and their parents, omitting these points gives people a false sense of security, and the consequences are disastrous. Trust me, I’ve seen it all play out in my office - that’s why I embarked on this mission.

As for Vanessa Cullins’ assertion that “all of us get it”: Speak for yourself, doctor. You must live in a bubble, where everyone you know engages in high risk behaviors. Those of us outside that bubble know there are plenty of people with wonderful, satisfying sexual lives who are free of infection, disease, and worry.

This is the question the country must answer: who will educate our children about staying healthy? Do we want our kids to join Dr. Cullins in the Planned Parenthood bubble?

If your doctor declared, “expect to get diabetes, we all do”, you’d fire her. When a Sex Ed “expert” says, “expect to get a STI”, it’s time to send her a pink slip. Otherwise, the claim “we all get it” will come closer and closer to being the truth.


About the author

Miriam Grossman, M.D. is a board certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. She is author of the new book "You're Teaching My Child What?"


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: abortion; life; plannedpartenthood; prolifedoc; townhall

1 posted on 11/10/2009 5:53:37 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

“This woman must be stopped at all costs!” /Democrat Tinfoil Hatter ;)


2 posted on 11/10/2009 5:56:19 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (We have a Pisher in Chief!)
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To: Kaslin
Most of this sounded reasonable until I read this line:

Other facts you need to know about this virus: -Smoking and/or use of hormonal contraceptives may increase the risk of HPV infection in teen girls.

Can someone tell me how smoking can/may increase the risk of HPV?

To me, that's a real stretch.

3 posted on 11/10/2009 6:00:52 AM PST by basil (It's time to rid the country of "Gun Free Zones" aka "Killing Fields")
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To: Kaslin; informavoracious; larose; RJR_fan; Prospero; Conservative Vermont Vet; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of interest.

Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment

Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

4 posted on 11/10/2009 6:01:31 AM PST by narses ("These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.")
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To: Kaslin

PP is in the business of killing babies. You think they care about the quality of advice they give teens? Besides, advising teens not to have sex hurts their primary business.


5 posted on 11/10/2009 6:03:01 AM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: Kaslin

First re:

“We deliver comprehensive and medically accurate information that empowers women, men, teens, and families to make informed choices and lead healthy lives.”

What does that have to do with ‘Parenthood’.

The same as abortion has to do with ‘healthcare’ I guess.

Their ‘private’ choice, our ‘public’ tax dollars.

Listen to this, give it to ‘choicers’, see what they say:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbBEnvu1Aw


6 posted on 11/10/2009 6:04:25 AM PST by AliVeritas (Happy 234th Hooah. Pray people. Just do it.)
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To: Kaslin

Planned Parenthood is like a Nazi death cult.


7 posted on 11/10/2009 6:06:52 AM PST by Bobalu (I AM JIM THOMPSON)
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To: Kaslin
We deliver comprehensive and medically accurate information that empowers women, men, teens, and families to make informed choices and lead healthy lives.”

It may inform (I went through some of it and learned a few facts even) however, it's in a pretty... disgusting and/or disturbing videos depending on which one is clicked.

8 posted on 11/10/2009 6:09:15 AM PST by Toki
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To: basil
It has to do with what smoking does to the actual blood vessels, making a person more susceptible via the blood stream/blood vessels
9 posted on 11/10/2009 6:43:52 AM PST by Lyantana (A Southern View)
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To: Lyantana

Okay—I hadn’t thought of that.........


10 posted on 11/10/2009 6:46:26 AM PST by basil (It's time to rid the country of "Gun Free Zones" aka "Killing Fields")
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To: basil

Don’t know about the contraceptives, but my daughter recently read “Survival of the Sickest”. The chapter on smoking indicates that nicotene interferes with the immune system. It damages cells, and also turns off the “switch” that recognizes a cell is damaged and needs repair. That might be why smoking would increase the risk of other, opportunistic infections/diseases.


11 posted on 11/10/2009 7:15:45 AM PST by knittnmom ("...only dead fish 'go with the flow'". - Sarah Palin 7/09)
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To: Bobalu
Planned Parenthood is like a Nazi death cult.

Considering Hitler was an admirer of PP's founder, Mad Maggie Sanger, your comment hits the nail on the head.
12 posted on 11/10/2009 8:01:42 AM PST by Antoninus (The RNC's dream ticket: Romney / Scozzafava 2012)
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To: Antoninus

13 posted on 11/10/2009 8:32:46 AM PST by Bobalu (I AM JIM THOMPSON)
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To: basil

Hormonal contraception and smoking might alter the vagina’s mucous lining, or affect the immune system. Or maybe there is only a correlation, not a causation. She did use the word “may.”

Smoking is a major risk factor for bladder cancer - it does have far-reaching effects.


14 posted on 11/10/2009 9:01:11 AM PST by heartwood
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To: basil

Teen women who smoke are viewed as easier targets by teen boys.


15 posted on 11/10/2009 2:00:52 PM PST by Jacquerie (All muslims are suspect.)
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