Planned Parenthood chief argues health care

She explained what she sees as a concerted effort to prevent women and young people from getting information about reproductive care options. Politics, she said, is to blame.

“Partisan politics, rather than public health interest, is driving reproductive health care policy in America,” Richards said. “Every time we take two steps forward, we have to take one step back.”

The national cost accrued by unwanted pregnancies is $11 billion to $12 billion, Richards said.

Richards said that the states of Utah and Texas, which have both recently passed bills limiting birth control or the dissemination of information about birth control, are trying to take the country “back to the 1950s.” In that decade, before Roe v. Wade, it was a matter of debate whether women ought to have access to birth control.

“We are not going back to those days,” Richards said. “Underlying all these bills is the notion that women are incapable of making medical decisions.”

Richards is not new to the world of women’s rights advocacy. Born in Waco, Texas in 1958, she explained that she is the daughter of parents who were actively involved in political causes, including the Civil Rights Movement. Her mother, Ann Richards, was elected as the first pro-choice female governor of Texas.

Today, the debate over birth control often centers on the question of abortion, she said. Richards, who is pro-choice, noted that there has been no federal funding of abortion since the Hyde Amendment of 1976. She said that Planned Parenthood is a bipartisan organization that has both Democrats and Republicans in its ranks.

Moreover, Richards said that Planned Parenthood actually prevents abortions. “We do more to prevent abortion than all these people with picket signs will do in a lifetime,” she said.

She explained that this is the result of not only Planned Parenthood’s expansion of contraceptive use but also its educational initiatives.

“Sex education actually helps young people change their behavior,” Richards said. “It helps them delay the first time they have sex, and it also helps ensure a greater likelihood that they will actually use protection when they do become sexually active.”

A young man told that people begin to have sex on average at age 17, Richards noted, is less likely to feel pressure to have sex at a younger age. Similarly, she added, knowing that 80 percent of young men use condoms also helps other young men who potentially would refrain from using condoms make safer decisions.

Richards also outlined new initiatives to bring Planned Parenthood into the 21st century.

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“I actually believe that there’s a huge opportunity on the horizon,” Richards said, “and that’s through technology. Technology is a way, I hope, above and beyond the political barriers preventing young people’s access to care.”

In an attempt to make the information available about birth control on the web more reliable, Richards said, Planned Parenthood has sought to increase its Internet presence. One innovation Richards cited was the text-and-chatting program being piloted in three cities, which allows young people to get in direct contact with Planned Parenthood representatives.

Richards told a story about one girl who used the system to anonymously seek help. She had had unprotected sex the night before and, Richards said, texted “I’m scared I might be pregnant” to Planned Parenthood’s number.

A representative told her she could take emergency contraceptives, colloquially referred to as the “morning-after pill,” and still prevent a pregnancy. After a pause, the girl was said to reply: “Really?!?!?!?”

“You could feel the relief over the text,” Richards said.

Richards said she believes that the fight for reproductive health care lies in the hands of the current generation of students. She cited the 1.3 million tweets in February in support of Planned Parenthood as evidence of the political opportunities presented by technology

“My hope is in your generation,” she said. “I have seen in this last year young people get organized and take on these issues in a way I haven’t seen in decades.”

The talk, “Keeping Politics out of Women’s Health,” was held in Dodds Auditorium as part of the Wilson School’s Leadership and Governance Program.