by Maria Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
January 5, 2005
Washington,
DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new report by a consumer watchdog group confirms
what many pro-life organizations have been saying for a long time: Planned
Parenthood distributes condoms to teens and young adults knowing they
will fail, leading to a pregnancy and allowing the abortion business
to gain a new customer.
Consumer Reports, in a study focusing on the effectiveness and quality of condoms, says Planned Parenthood offers the worst ones on the market.
In its February issue, the magazine takes the nation's largest abortion operation to task for its poorly made contraception devices. Two of the three types of free condoms offered by Planned Parenthood received low ratings in terms of strength and reliability.
The Consumer Reports survey raises new questions about Planned Parenthood's pregnancy prevention efforts. In a number of states, taxpayers are challenging funding to the abortion industry giant, saying the money would be better used for abstinence programs.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood officials say they have resubmitted their three condom brands for independent testing and received “excellent results.”
Karen Pearl, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County criticized Consumer Reports for performing only air-inflation tests on the condoms. The magazine tested condoms by inflating them until they burst.
Geoffrey Martin, the magazine's director of consumer sciences, told the press that other tests are not as useful in measuring condom reliability.
The Planned Parenthood condoms ranked below condoms from such well-known makers as Durex, LifeStyles, TheyFit, and Trojan. In all, the magazine evaluated 23 types of latex condoms.
In its article, Consumer Reports stated, “We rated one model that Planned Parenthood distributes at its clinics as poor because its strength was so low compared with the rest.”
Some critics wondered whether the magazine's review of contraceptives was politically motivated, since the Bush Administration has been promoting abstinence-only education.
But Consumer Reports denies that politics played a role in its testing.
"We plan our testing programs quite a while in advance. This is purely accidental," senior editor Nancy Metcalf told Reuters.
Related web sites:
Consumer Reports - http://www.consumerreports.org
