TO THE EDITOR:
In response to the obscene and misleading protest carried out on our campus Oct. 26 by a bunch of men not affiliated with UNC, I wanted to write and say how grateful I am for the extensive and comprehensive health services Planned Parenthood offers to our community.
Planned Parenthood is an extremely accessible and welcoming reproductive health care medical center for all students—be they cisgender women, cisgender men, trans, or gender non-conforming students.
Their medical care is also very affordable for students, and the vast majority of the health care they provide is lifesaving screenings for breast and testicular cancer, testing and treatment for STIs/STDs, annual gynecological exams, learning about and receiving birth control, emergency contraception (e.g., Plan B or the “morning after” pill), testing and treatment for urinary tract infections and pregnancy testing and counseling.
And yes, the Planned Parenthood health center in Chapel Hill does provide abortions, but this is only 3 percent of the comprehensive reproductive health care services they offer.
All of these essential components of health care are also provided by actual medical personnel, unlike at fake CPC clinics that mislead people and spread falsehoods.
No one at UNC should be shamed out of receiving quality reproductive health care, and I am thankful we can receive such a high level of care here in Chapel Hill at Planned Parenthood.
Yazmin Garcia-Rico
UNC School of Social Work
