Twice recently, Planned Parenthood has been caught distributing inappropriate materials to children, putting the lie to the notion that the nation’s number-one abortion provider is simply interested in “reproductive health.”
Last month, Planned Parenthood distributed sexually explicit coloring books to kids at a Kentucky science museum, which promptly banned the organization from its premises. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood is making condoms, sexual aids, and graphic sex-education materials available to children in California public libraries — with the libraries’ eager cooperation. The differing responses are a stark reminder of the divide between the coastal elites and residents of “flyover country.”
Adult Coloring Book
On March 21, the Kentucky Science Center held its Health and Wellness Days event. Over 400 eight-to-13-year-old students from Louisville-area schools attended.
At the event, Planned Parenthood — which the science center says was not invited to participate but requested permission to do so — began distributing various materials to the kids in attendance. One of the materials was a coloring book that “features many things relating to reproductive rights, including outlines of a penis and breasts and a ‘sexlib’ fill-in-the-blank activity about condoms,” reported WLKY.
Taylor U’Sellis, senior manager of marketing and communications for the science center, told WDRB that “several educators working March 21 said they saw the book being handed out.”
“As we became aware, we immediately ceased the distribution of the book,” U’Sellis told WLKY.
She also claimed that Planned Parenthood did not provide the materials to the science center in advance as requested — and showed up an hour and a half late for the event, at which point it was already under way. “This made it difficult to assess the materials,” she explained.
On March 26, the science center posted on Facebook that it “sincerely apologize[d] for the distribution of” the coloring book at the event.
“We deeply regret the harm this caused,” read the post. “We are taking immediate steps to ensure that all materials distributed at our events are thoroughly reviewed in advance and this partner is no longer welcome at the Science Center.”
Deny and Deflect
Planned Parenthood’s response to this announcement was to deny it had done what everyone saw it do and to blame the controversy on its detractors. Jennifer Allen, director of external affairs for the Planned Parenthood region that includes Kentucky, issued a March 26 statement saying:
We want to be clear: the coloring book currently being circulated online was not distributed at the event. Claims suggesting otherwise are false and appear to be part of a coordinated attempt to stir outrage and manufacture controversy.
The very next day, however, Allen was forced to eat her words. She admitted that the coloring book had indeed been distributed to kids at the event but claimed a “staff member” did so “inadvertently.”
“We apologize for this error and are reviewing our internal protocols,” she said. (She did not, however, apologize to the unnamed forces she had accused of stirring up a supposedly phony controversy.)
Lewd Libraries
Planned Parenthood’s explanation would be easier to swallow if the organization weren’t simultaneously engaged in even worse conduct in California.
According to an April 1 (but, sadly, not April Fool’s) report from CBS News, “Sacramento Public Library is partnering with Planned Parenthood to put sexual health resource cabinets inside libraries.”
At that time, 12 of the library’s 28 branches had cabinets “stocked with free contraceptives, pregnancy tests, sex ed pamphlets and QR codes that direct you to the Planned Parenthood website with more resources,” wrote CBS.
It would be one thing if the cabinets were squirreled away in corners of the adult sections of the library or in rooms only accessible to adults. But, no, they’re all in open areas, including the library’s central hub, where they are “accessible to minors without restriction, supervision, or parental knowledge,” reported LifeNews.com.
Parents interviewed by CBS all expressed the same opinion: The cabinets don’t belong where kids, especially young ones, can see them.
“It’s a little shocking,” said parent Michael Reed. “It’s not the place where I would think about sex education going on.”
“It seems a little inappropriate to target children in that way,” he added.
Dream Gibson, a mother of two, told CBS she had no problem with adults’ having access to the cabinets. “I think exploring sexuality is healthy, but for a four-year-old, not necessarily the best thing,” she said. “To have it be publicly displayed for any and every one to view, I don’t think it’s necessarily appropriate.”
Defensive Line
Whereas the Kentucky Science Center permanently booted Planned Parenthood after it gave kids sexually explicit materials, the Sacramento Public Library defended the Planned Parenthood cabinets and said it plans to place them in other branches.
“Libraries are essential to healthy, thriving communities, so having resources that are of interest and needs of that community is really critical,” Sacramento Public Library community engagement services manager Todd Deck told CBS.
“We want to remove the stigma around these resources,” he said.
He also suggested making the cabinets available was akin to putting books on the shelves. But, as LifeNews.com pointed out, Deck “fail[ed] to acknowledge that books don’t come packaged with pregnancy tests and lubricants.”
“Public institutions should be partnering with parents, not undermining them,” said California Family Council vice president Greg Burt. “This program is a reckless abandonment of common sense, parental authority, and childhood innocence.”
In far-Left California, though, it’s just par for the course.
