Planned Parenthood Ties Cast Further Doubts on Sex Survey
Flags were raised after a research study claimed that 95 percent of Americans have had premarital sex. One abstinence ministry founder gave more reason for those doubts.
Richard Ross, founder of the True Love Waits abstinence movement, told Baptist Press that Guttmacher Institute, which conducted the study, is the research arm for Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is a leading provider of surgical abortions in the United States and a vocal pro-choice advocate. The national organization is regularly protested by pro-life advocates and Christians, some of whom have established groups to stop Planned Parenthood.
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Ross believes the study, which was released Tuesday, may be biased.
"Helping Americans abandon any sense that sex belongs in marriage is essential to boosting the demand for those abortion services," he said, according to Baptist Press. "Knowing of the tie between Planned Parenthood and Guttmacher could help readers watch for any possible bias creeping into research."
At the release of the survey results, which was conducted on more than 38,000 people, the study's author, Lawrence Finer, called it a "reality-check research."
"Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades," he said.
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group which strongly supports abstinence-only education, immediately raised suspicion over the high numbers presented in the study.
"The numbers are too pat," she said, according to the Associated Press.
The Guttmacher Institute was originally founded as the Center for Family Planning Program Development and constituted as a semiautonomous division of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the parent group for the hundreds of clinics across the country. Its early development was nurtured by Alan F. Guttmacher, who was PPFA's president for more than a decade, according to the Guttmacher Institute website. The institute later became an independent, not-for-profit corporation in 1977 and remains a "special affiliate" of PPFA.
"The federal programs prior to the Bush administration were overwhelmingly supportive of comprehensive sex education, of course, which is provided by Planned Parenthood and supported by Guttmacher and SIECUS and all of the left-wing groups," Crouse noted. "And now that there is some money - just a tad of money - going for abstinence-till-marriage programs, [such groups] are objecting to any money whatsoever being spent in that direction."
Crouse isn't convinced of the results of the Guttmacher study. As Finer questions the effectiveness of abstinence programs based off of the research and calls for more education on safe sex, Crouse called for a reality check on Finer's research.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood facilities is at its lowest point in 20 years, according to LifeNews.com. STOPP Planned Parenthood, a Christian organization of parents founded to stop the abortion provider, said more than 100 Planned Parenthood centers closed in the last 11 years. There are now reportedly 817 health clinics, some of which provide surgical abortions and some of which provide health care services.
