Defending Planned Parenthood I
I am disappointed that The Daily Texan chose to publish the outrageous and offensive editorial cartoon that likens Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan (March 26). Your choice of cartoons is especially offensive, given the CDC study released last week that found that 1 in 4 teenage girls has a sexually transmitted infection. Texas also has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. and the highest repeat teen pregnancy rate. These new statistics emphasize how important it is for young people to have access to comprehensive health education and preventive healthcare services.
Planned Parenthood, Austin's most trusted name in reproductive healthcare, has provided high-quality, affordable health care and education in the Austin community since 1938. Last year, its three Austin clinics provided health care and education to more than 26,000 people. In 2007, its services included health care and education to nearly 2,000 teens at our Teen Clinic, and STI screenings for more than 15,000 clients. With so many young people, including UT students, in need of affordable health care and education, it is disappointing to consider that a student might not seek an STI screening or birth control information from one of Planned Parenthood's clinics because of such an offensive mischaracterization of our organization.
If you would like to know some facts about Margaret Sanger, who has been dead for 30 years, Planned Parenthood in Connecticut has helpful information on their Web site: http://www.ppct.org/facts/research/sanger.shtml.
Alex Albright, Vice-chair, Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region
Defending Planned Parenthood II
What on earth possessed you to decide to run the slanderous, racist and ignorant cartoon equating Planned Parenthood with the KKK? The assertions, implicit and explicit, in this cartoon have no foundation in fact, and the fact that the editors of a student newspaper at an institution of higher education decided to run such an article is appalling.
An apology is due the many hardworking people affiliated with Planned Parenthood, and to the Texas men and women who rely on Planned Parenthood for factual, accurate and critical information and services. The students who support UT and The Daily Texan deserve more intelligent editorial decisions by the staff of their newspaper.
Linda Vincent Johnson City, Texas
Defending Planned Parenthood III
As an alumna of UT, I was disappointed to see Glen McCoy's ignorant and distasteful cartoon comparing Planned Parenthood to the KKK. Please tell me it's some sort of brilliant satire I don't understand.
Deirdre Feehan UT alum
Defending Planned Parenthood IV
I'm disappointed in The Daily Texan's decision to give voice to the stupidity inherent in the March 26 editorial cartoon. Planned Parenthood and the Klu Klux Klan have virtually nothing in common except the letters "lan" in their names.
Planned Parenthood provides science-based, factual information about family planning, birth control and sexually transmitted diseases and their prevention. The Klu Klux Klan provides nothing but rhetoric and propaganda promoting racial hatred and bigotry. Why did the Texan want to help a non-student cartoonist defame Planned Parenthood? Publishing this cartoon reflects poor judgment on your part.
Tom Hudson Austin, Texas
Defending Planned Parenthood V
I tend to be a fan of political cartoons, but I favor the ones that tweak or attack the powerful. That is why your March 26 political cartoon about Planned Parenthood rubs me the wrong way.
It's an extreme cartoon for sure, but it's also painted with the broadest of broad brushes, and ends up being more like propaganda than insight. While it's true that Margaret Sanger may have had some eugenic philosophies, she made very positive contributions to modern family planning and reproductive freedom. She certainly wasn't allied with the KKK in any real way.
Also, abortion is not infanticide, and the conflation of the two is unfair. I expect more out of nationally syndicated cartoonists and would like the Texan editors to share this higher standard.
Dan Gillotte Austin, Texas
Defending Planned Parenthood VI
Planned Parenthood has done many great things, especially for our campus. They have provided counseling services and access to methods of birth control and have advocated our reproductive freedoms. Margaret Sanger advocated eugenics in the early 20th century to help families from low socioeconomic backgrounds plan births in order to provide more efficient care and better quality of life. Although Sanger often spoke to the KKK, and Nazis supported her ideas on eugenics, ultimately she was advocating free speech and education. By educating people about birth control (a term she coined), she started the revolution for women's liberation.
I hope that in the future you will consider how offensive the cartoons you publish may be to the women who have been provided an organization that aids in keeping women safe from STIs and pregnancies in a fight to avoid abortion and low qualities of life for children.
Natalia Corona Biomedical engineering junior
Defending Planned Parenthood VII
As a UT alumna, I am disappointed that The Daily Texan would run such a distasteful cartoon. I have supported Planned Parenthood during my lifetime and can attest to the many helpful things they do for students, women and families. I smell dumb Republicans.
Bonnie Boorman Georgetown, Texas
Defending Planned Parenthood VIII
I have a hard time understanding why someone with a modicum of education would choose to run a cartoon that is disparaging of Planned Parenthood. Are you nuts? That organization is one of the few that does really dynamic work for women and girls - or, is that the problem that you have?
Audrey Steiner Anthropology graduate student
Defending Planned Parenthood IX
As a former employee of Planned Parenthood and a UT alum (2007 Ph.D. in linguistics), I am dismayed by your choice to run such a tasteless editorial cartoon in your paper. It is extremely offensive to compare an organization that is dedicated to educating people about their bodies and reproductive health to a group that is based in hatred and bigotry. Planned Parenthood provides well-woman exams, screens for sexually-transmitted infections, educates men and women on safer sex practices and offers reproductive health care. The latter happens to include safe and legal abortions. Unlike many organizations claiming to offer pregnancy counseling, Planned Parenthood explains all options available to women who seek counseling.
Last I checked, abortion is still legal in this country. Burning crosses in lawns and forming lynch mobs is not.
Christina M. Willis UT alum
Don't nickname the stadium
In response to "Three potential DKR nicknames up for vote; get ballots in by Sunday," March 26: Please put a stop to the ridiculous attempt to assign a nickname to one of the most storied facilities on campus and in the state. If it was in need of a cutesy, lowbrow nickname, it would have acquired one long before little Ricky Treon was born. It would be a total embarrassment to have Daryl K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium called something bush like "The Corral"(Yee haw, Aggie) or "The Bullpen" (which has nothing to do with football or The University of Texas).
It would be appreciated by more people than you know if you would print a new article recanting all discussions of a nickname for the stadium.
Neil Garner Austin, Texas
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