Kaitlin Welborn | The gift of good health

Can't think of what to get that special lady-friend of yours this Valentine's Day? Try a Planned Parenthood gift certificate!

Last November, Planned Parenthood of Indiana began offering gift certificates in $25 increments to their customers. The certificates can be used for all the services the 35 Planned Parenthood of Indiana clinics provide, including checkups, contraceptives - and abortions. Planned Parenthood of Illinois followed suit and began offering gift certificates as well.

Of course, not everyone is excited about the possibility of Planned Parenthood gift certificates. Opponents see the gift certificates to Planned Parenthood essentially as free abortions. In The Washington Times, Katie Walker of the American Life League called the gift certificates "another money-making opportunity to continue [Planned Parenthood] assaults on families through abortion and through artificial birth control, through the sexualization of our children with their obscene sex-ed programs."

But those against Planned Parenthood's latest gift-shop addition are using abortion as a red herring to disguise an opposition to women's health care in general: Only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are abortion-related. Besides, abortions are extremely expensive - $468 on average - so a gift certificate would likely cover barely 5 percent of the cost. Whether or not to have an abortion is perhaps the most difficult choice a woman could make in her lifetime, and she likely will consider factors other than 5 percent off.

Regardless of our stances on abortion, we should support the gift certificates for the same reason that we should support women's-health issues in general - because it affects us, or our sisters, mothers and girlfriends. A Planned Parenthood gift certificate could more realistically be used to help cover the costs of gynecological care, an area that has become increasingly more expensive over the past few years.

In a time when 28 percent of women admit not going to the doctor for financial reasons, a gift certificate could pay for part of a checkup - today, just a Pap smear costs around $58. For the 400,000 or so women in Indiana who don't have insurance, a gift certificate could be one year's appointment. And the cost of birth control is prohibitive for girls who wish to go on the Pill but don't want to tell their parents. If a gift certificate helps a woman take care of her basic health care needs, then so be it.

Or perhaps the gift certificate could be given from one partner to the other, therefore sharing the cost of birth control. Since Congress closed a loophole providing cheap birth control to college students in early 2008, almost any college-age woman would welcome compensation for contraception. This way the gifts prevent unintended pregnancies, and indirectly reduce abortions.

We need to be less moralistic and more realistic about women's health. This is not a battle about abortion, and opposing the gift certificates based on this reasoning is misleading. It's about whether or not society views women's health as a valuable service equal to men's health. Would anyone be up in arms if pharmacies (who regularly hand out prescriptions for the abortion pill, the morning after pill and contraceptives) gave out gift certificates, which men could theoretically use to buy condoms? No, because it wouldn't be specific to women's health.

All women need women's-health services regardless of their sexual activity or their stance on abortion. And health care costs are rising, so wouldn't we welcome doctor's offices selling gift certificates? We shouldn't treat Planned Parenthood any differently.

Though Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania has no intention of issuing gift certificates any time soon, they should consider it in the future. Though few would comment because of the sensitive subject matter, a college senior who wished to remain nameless said that though she wouldn't use the gift certificates because she's insured, she thought it "ridiculous that there's still such a stigma attached to women's health," and that the program should be expanded to the Philadelphia area.

As a society we should value women's health enough to realize that a gift certificate to Planned Parenthood is a practical and worthwhile gift. Sure, a Planned Parenthood gift certificate isn't the most romantic of gifts, but if I need a vacuum cleaner, I'd appreciate a free vacuum cleaner. Sometimes the best gifts are the most useful ones.

Kaitlin Welborn is a College senior from Tampa, Fla. Not Your Mother's Daughter appears on alternating Wednesday. Her email address is welborn@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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