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Recently, a Utah father reached out to us to tell how Planned Parenthood gave his underage daughter an IUD (intrauterine birth control device) without his knowledge or consent. You can listen to the full discussion here.[1]
Let’s dive a bit deeper into Planned Parenthood Association of Utah and some of the issues referenced in the interview:
PPAU Executives Confirm They Provide Birth Control Without Parental Consent
Speaking in a Utah County Commissioner meeting in 2019, President & CEO Karrie Galloway admitted that PPAU gives contraception to minors without parental consent. She also tried to deflect and ultimately had no answer when pressed about possible side effects and risks of birth control. Listen to the exchange below:
In a 2019 podcast interview, Utah Planned Parenthood Marketing & Communications Director Katrina Barker was surprisingly candid about Title X and reiterated Galloway’s words that this funding requires their organization to provide contraception with no parental involvement.[2]
“A sixteen year old can come into our clinic, and they will get birth control. And most of that is paid for by Title X. And they don't have to tell their parents. And we're not telling their parents."
Hormonal contraception (the pill, the patch, the IUD, the Nuvaring, the implant, etc) can have serious implications for women's bodies, and no parent should ever be left out of these medical decisions for their young daughters.
Utah Legislators Pushing for Teen Birth Control Without Parental Consent
Currently in our state, only Planned Parenthood provides hormonal contraception to minors without parental consent (Title X federal funding creates a legal loophole that allows them to circumvent Utah law that requires parental sign-off for teens to obtain birth control). However, some politicians are trying to push legislation that expands contraception access and makes it so that any physician can give underage girls hormonal birth control.
Representative Ray Ward (R) is a doctor from Bountiful who has tried for several years to pass this type of legislation. Although Ward insists that he is pro-life and has voted in favor of some life-affirming legislation, he sides with Planned Parenthood on the issue of contraception without parental consent and had even been pictured with Utah abortionist David Turok. [3] A Deseret News article from 2020 stated that:
“Ward wants to change Utah statute to say that providers can give contraceptives to teens in situations where it might be more detrimental not to — perhaps, a homeless teenager, one living in an abusive situation, or teens afraid of their parents’ reaction.” [4]
Let's analyze this a bit:
A homeless teen needs support getting off the street and overcoming any addictions or self-destructive behaviors that may have led to homelessness in the first place. And a teen experiencing abuse needs encouragement, resources, and therapy to leave and heal from a toxic relationship. Simply providing contraception is a band aid that fails to meet the underlying needs of young people in difficult situations. A teen who is afraid of their parents' reaction? This is such a broad category that would encompass nearly every minor seeking birth control without parental consent.
Further, Ward spoke about the resolution from the Utah Medical Association (of which he is a part) which opposed 1st trimester abortion bans, calling it "an important step." [5]
We urge voters to be wary of any politician (doctor or not) who would circumvent their relationship with their children, no matter how well-intentioned. We also are suspicious of legislators who call themselves pro-life but do not believe that children in the first trimester should have legal protection.
"Parents Are A Barrier to Service"
Monica Cline is a former Planned Parenthood sex educator who now speaks out against the organization. She champions families as being the most qualified to have delicate conversations about sexuality and exposes how Planned Parenthood grooms young people to be customers for their business.[6]
Cline has recounted that she was frequently told that parents are a barrier to business, and that whenever possible, Planned Parenthood does not want parental involvement. Here is an in-depth interview that Cline did with conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey about Planned Parenthood’s attempts to prevent parental involvement.[7]
Planned Parenthood Uses Sex Ed To Create a Sales Pipeline
Planned Parenthood often boasts that their sex education outreach teaches young people how to create boundaries, learn about consent and refusal skills, and other techniques to help them be healthy in their relationships. While these soundbites and buzzwords may sound harmless and even helpful, the reality of what these classes teach is quite different.
Listen below as former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life advocate Abby Johnson describes how PP sex ed curriculum is meant to foster relationships with children, normalize any and every kind of sexual practice, and then ultimately market their services and products.
In 2018. a Pro-Life Utah investigator attended a six week series of these classes and captured photo & video evidence of the kinds of things Planned Parenthood was teaching in a Utah public library. Read about her experience here. [8]
These classes are not simply about biology, anatomy, or human reproduction, and they are certainly not values-neutral. Planned Parenthood sex ed pushes an ideology that often conflicts with the values of a child’s family in order to create a customer base.
Planned Parenthood Covers Up Sexual Abuse
Lila Rose is the president of Live Action who years ago posed as an underage girl seeking an abortion at multiple Planned Parenthood clinics across the country. When she told staffers that her boyfriend was in his 30s, they said they did not want to know the age or to have to report abuse, and then continued to instruct her on how to obtain an abortion.
Although they are mandatory reporters, if Planned Parenthood historically looks the other way when presented with prima facie evidence of abuse, who is to say they will do their due diligence and ensure an underage girl seeking birth control is not a victim of statutory rape? In other words, by providing contraception to minors without parental involvement, they are potentially enabling abuse.
Did Utah Planned Parenthood Fail To Report Sexual Assault?
There is strong evidence to suggest that here in Utah, Planned Parenthood covered up child sex abuse. According to news reports as well as court documents, in 2017, a Salt Lake City man Jose Cazares-Montalvao impregnated his 15 year old stepdaughter and took her to three different PP clinics to try to get an abortion. [9] Although he was denied each time (in accordance with Utah state law), it wasn't until the girl's mother found evidence of the rape that the abuse was reported to law enforcement.
If a man seeking an abortion for an underage girl who was not his biological daughter at three different clinics (where apparently NONE reported) isn't evidence of a failure to report suspected abuse, what is?
Judicial Bypass for Minors Seeking Abortion
In 2006, Utah passed legislation that required minors to have parental consent to get an abortion (a law that PPAU opposed). [10] But the 1979 Supreme Court ruling Belotti vs. Baird had provided a loophole known as "judicial bypass" which allows young girls to go around these kinds of laws and receive permission from a judge to get an abortion without her parents' knowledge. Here in our state, the "Judicial Bypass Project" connects minors to volunteers & attorneys, gives them information on which abortion clinics they can access, and provides options for transportation. [11]
Planned Parenthood Violates Parental Rights
Utah Planned Parenthood does not recognize or uphold parental rights. They will gladly give underage girls hormone-altering drugs & devices to help them hide their sexual activity and even facilitate a secret abortion for them. They are bad for children, bad for families, and bad for our state.
Sources:
1. https://prolifeutah.org/news/article.cfm?id=690
2. https://thenewutah.com/tag/katrina-barker/
3. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/06/25/unintended-pregnancies/
4. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/8/21126838/teen-birth-control-law-federal-funding
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6-jFw7g4n4&t=2760s
8. https://www.prolifeutah.org/your-stories/story.cfm?id=515
9. https://www.abc4.com/news/prosecutors-man-tried-covering-up-evidence-of-rape/
10. https://www.ksl.com/article/148714/bill-would-require-parental-consent-for-minors-abortion
11. http://www.utahjudicialbypass.org/