What is in a name? Canadian Federation for Sexual Health.

Ottawa -- Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada has changed its name to the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (CFSH). Andre Picard of the Globe celebrated this event ("It's not just the Pill anymore," September 22, 2005). He recalled its 41-year history in this country as if its efforts have been homegrown and innocuous. But by any name, this organization cannot hide certain realities.

While Planned Parenthood (PPFC) purports to assist with health care, it neglects to treat individuals as persons who are capable of informed consent. PPFC can be traced to the Brownsville Clinic (1916), the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau (1923), and the American Birth Control League (1921). These agencies were founded by the American eugenicist Margaret Sanger, who helped researchers obtain funding to develop the contraceptive pill. This year, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer has declared the contraceptive pill to be a Class 1 carcinogenic. The national CFSH website Mr. Picard promotes fails to include this essential information.

While Planned Parenthood portrays itself as emerging from the grassroots, it has a history of manipulating communities. Sanger's patronizing methods involved co-opting minorities through the training of their clergy and professionals. As she developed her "Negro Project," she stated: "We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

Today, CFSH employs such targeting as it spreads its agenda in developing countries and within Canada's aboriginal population. The aboriginal connection here has become important to the American Post-Roe Services Strategy. CFSH remains a branch of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the world's largest abortion provider.

Planned Parenthood worries that Roe v. Wade (1973) could be overturned in the United States. According to the American Life League's STOPP International, Planned Parenthood's Post-Roe contingency plan involves providing abortions where American federal law does not apply--on offshore ships, in Canadian border towns, and on aboriginal reservations (www.all.org/stopp). These plans belie Mr. Picard's interpretation that CFSH is a fine example of multiculturalism and cultural relevance.

While Planned Parenthood moves away from a focus on "family planning," (planned barrenhood) it is contributing to the breakdown of the family itself. Sanger once fretted that "the most serious evil of our times is that of encouraging the bringing into the world of large families." CFSH now denies the fundamental role of families in raising children. It envisions access to contraception and abortion without parental consent--"fundamental human rights for individuals throughout life."

Comment:

It is much harder to protect children from statutory rape, pornography, incest, and abuse, if we pretend that they can consent to sexual and reproductive decisions. Authentic teaching of family planning would start with empowering parents and families to enact their own responsibilities.

Planned Parenthood is not about health cape--it is about cynical social change. PPFC/CFSH needs to be exposed, not celebrated.