Planned Parenthood’s services mainly preventative
Editor,
In a letter to the editor on Oct. 18, “Planned Parenthood
spreads harm, not good,” an OU student inaccurately conveyed information
about Planned Parenthood and the services it provides.
Across the nation, abortion services comprise less than
3 percent of the full range of health services Planned Parenthood provides.
The majority of Planned Parenthood services are preventative.
Each year, thousands of men and women visit Planned Parenthood
health centers for annual Pap tests and breast exams, birth control and
testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, all of which
can lead to devastating health problems if left undetected. Last year
3,377 Ohio women visiting Planned Parenthood health centers were diagnosed
with pre-cancerous conditions during routine annual visits. Had they not
received early diagnosis, many of them might now be facing life-threatening
situations. To imply, as the letter writer did, that all individuals who
visit Planned Parenthood engage in wanton, reckless behavior is simply
untrue. As a matter of fact, teen pregnancy rates have declined nationwide
and here in Southeast Ohio, effective birth control use by clients in
our eight county service area prevented 1,600 unintended pregnancies.
We know, however, that our work is not done. Our community outreach and
education efforts often are hindered by school officials who believe a
“Just Say No” curriculum should take precedence over providing comprehensive
and medically accurate sexuality information.
Every day we see young men and women with STDs. Ohio
ranks third in the nation with the highest rate of female chlamydia. Very
often, those in our care contract diseases because they have not been
given the information they need to change the course of their lives and
make safe, responsible decisions.
In our service area, 81 percent of our clients are at
or below 100 percent of poverty and revenues from client fees cover only
70 percent of the medical supplies needed to treat them. We stand committed
to continuing to treat them and to ensure they have access to the critical
services they need and deserve, including education and outreach.
While Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio does not provide
abortion services, we support a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy
as much as we would support and provide options counseling on any other
avenue she pursued, including adoption and carrying the pregnancy to term.
I can assure the letter writer that tax dollars do not and never have
funded abortions and no one profits from the procedure. Any woman would
say that the decision whether and when to have a child is certainly a
difficult one, but she can find great solace in the fact that the decision
she makes remains private.
Sheila Buckley, Chief Executive Officer
Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio
sab@frognet.net
Hockey fans aren't "sore losers, worse
winners"
In response to Tuesday’s Post column, “Hockey fans: sore losers, worse winners,”
let it first be said that this statement stems from the players of the
Ohio University ice hockey team, and does not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the coaches, general managers, employees of Bird Arena, the
College of Health and Human Services or Club Sports.
It was with disgust that we
read the remarks by Tuesday’s columnist words that rudely rained down
upon OU hockey fans. They were unjust.
We, as players, appreciate every fan that attends our
games. Despite its club status, hockey continues to reel in packed crowds
each home game. Last season, the Bobcats played out their last home game
of the year to students still stuck outside, scalping
tickets. What is even more amazing to each us is that students, parents,
children anyone is willing to dish out in upwards of $5 each game.
Success a yearlong home-unbeaten streak may have something to do
with it.
Maybe Tuesday’s columnist should have focused on what
compels more than 1,500 spectators each game to come in from the cold,
to an icebox, and cheer for OU.
It’s called spirit. Loyalty. Pride.
Even children of the Athens community know it. We, as
players, volunteer our time to tenure young girls and boys in the game
of hockey, and they in return, line up, pushing, shoving for a place,
near the door so that at the end of the period they can get a high five
from one of the players. We guess role models can be found in Bird Arena.
Tuesday’s columnist might have also failed to notice
the layout of rink seating, which provides specific sections for students,
family and general admission. If there are obscenities in the air, they
can be avoided.
For six months, we also roam the roads and rinks in such
universities as Wisconsin, Arizona, Delaware and Penn State. The big difference?
You can hear in their rinks. You can’t in ours.
Tuesday’s columnist mentioned a theme of hospitality
and the President’s cottage as a landmark of that friendliness. Bird Arena
is not the President’s cottage. It is meant to be intimidating and loud.
It is supposed to demean. The opposition’s heads should be ringing from
blaring 80s music, hard hits and goals. It gives us on the ice an advantage.
We thrive off the crowd’s energy. If the crowd has a bad day, we do too.
Not only did Tuesday’s columnist wish for Bird Arena
to be a happy little cottage, she misread the crowd’s cheers. When they
chant, they obviously do not intend to beat up the player’s girlfriends
and mothers. This is support for us. It belittles the other team. And
if they take it personally, then mission accomplished. What other sport
has players engaged in fisticuffs during the game, yet still shaking hands
at the end?
As for personal hospitality shown toward the “Drexel
crew,” Tuesday’s columnist was off-center again when she spoke of an “utter
lack” thereof after speaking to just one parent who drove down from Philadelphia
to watch her son. Drexel University, as with every visiting team to Bird
Arena, is provided an adequate locker room with showers, free access to
skate sharpening facilities and an on-site medical staff that is more
than willing to stitch us up, and Drexel. This is more than we ever experience
on the road from other schools. When the columnist claimed an “utter lack
of hospitality” by OU, she is insulting the Blueline Boosters, a group
of dedicated parents and OU faculty that serve as the screws and axels
of the hockey program. She is insulting the student general managers,
the countless volunteers, the hundreds of sponsors and the former players
of a program that has won three national championships in a row
just a few years ago. And she is just plain wrong.
OU hockey is a tradition. Like it or not, we win and
we entertain this school. We dedicate four years of college to this team.
Some people dedicate their lives to this program.
Maybe there is another apology in order, from Tuesday’s
columnist.
—
The Players of Ohio University Ice Hockey
—
E-mail st257999@ohiou.edu
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