In reference to the recent protest staged by the Diocese of Rockville Centre against the proposed Planned Parenthood (PP) clinic in Massapequa, your article implied that protesters oppose abortion, but consider Planned Parenthood's "primary health care and education programs" as "positives." I do not consider these positive. PP's health care has been offered in various forms throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties for years and we still have one of the highest teen pregnancy and AIDS rates in the nation. I have yet to see data from PP showing their "safer sex" agenda has reduced rather than proliferated teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

PP's teen website says "condoms typically have a 14 percent failure rate," yet PP's sexuality advice is condom-centered. What kids in Massapequa are willing to be the 14 percent to get an STD, HIV or pregnant? What Amityville parent wants their child to be the statistic? What Seaford educator will be responsible for that 14 percent of students? PP presumes teens have no self-control and even less self-respect, dispensing contraceptives with wanton abandon. PP makes money this way. It had 2,000 abortion patients and over 35,000 contraceptive/gynecology patients in 1996 in Nassau and Suffolk counties. PP is not a philanthropic organization coming to help Massapequa.

It is no consolation that PP would not do surgical abortions at Massapequa. Most of the female "contraceptives" PP sells also cause abortions. This holds true for "morning-after" pills, despite PP's claim to the contrary. PP may find it monetarily and politically correct to redefine when life begins, but it is biologically incorrect. I find it extremely offensive to have PP exploit teenagers as it does.

Celeste Broyles, Ph.D.