{"id":243359,"date":"2021-04-16T07:40:44","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T12:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=243359"},"modified":"2021-04-14T18:28:13","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:28:13","slug":"dear-abby-planned-parenthood-haven-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/dear-abby-planned-parenthood-haven-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dear Abby’ got it wrong: Planned Parenthood is not a safe haven for teens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A woman recently wrote a letter to the advice column “Dear Abby” with a personal dilemma involving her teenage stepdaughter. The stepmother wanted to know if she should tell her husband the truth about the girl’s sexual activity. Dear Abby’s unfortunate advice is to keep the secret and send the girl to Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n

The problem “Struggling Stepmom” was dealing with was that her stepdaughter “Amelia” confided in her that she had become sexually active with her boyfriend. Amelia did not want her stepmother to tell her father or mother, so her stepmother promised not to tell \u2014 and then scheduled an appointment for Amelia to see an OB\/GYN to get birth control.<\/p>\n

The letter can be read in full here<\/a>, but essentially, Struggling Stepmom assured Abby that Amelia had a close relationship with her father. She said the girls’ parents have a good relationship with each other and she was unsure if she should keep the girl’s secret.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0New analysis: Comprehensive sex ed in schools may actually be harming students<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“My question is, should I tell my husband?” the stepmom wrote. “I feel awful not telling him, but she has told me she doesn’t want either of her parents to know. I’m grateful she comes to me for things like this, but eventually, it’s going to come out when my husband sees the explanation of benefits from the insurance.”<\/p>\n

Abby’s response was to send Amelia to Planned Parenthood and then to encourage her to talk to her parents. Abby said, “She is behaving responsibly in wanting to protect herself.”<\/p>\n

But this reply completely missed the mark.<\/p>\n

The girl wasn’t “wanting to protect herself”<\/strong><\/p>\n

This young girl had already become sexually active before going to an adult in her life with this decision. It was only then<\/em> that her stepmother scheduled an appointment for the teen for birth control. Birth control will not protect against STDs. Abby noted that Planned Parenthood would diagnose and treat<\/em> STDs but failed to mention anything about\u00a0prevention<\/em>\u00a0of STDs. (Shouldn’t that be the goal?) Abby also noted that Planned Parenthood helps with “family planning […] and birth control” \u2014 in other words: Abby seems to be encouraging a visit to Planned Parenthood instead of an OB\/GYN because abortion is available at Planned Parenthood, and might not be at the OB\/GYN’s office. Planned Parenthood, after all, is the place where the teen could get an abortion with no questions asked and no parental involvement.<\/p>\n

None of this<\/em> came at the request of the young teen, however, which shows she wasn’t the one looking to “protect herself” while engaging in sexual activity at age 17.<\/p>\n