Public School Students in New Hampshire Taken to Abortion Center 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 10, 2007
Manchester, NH (LifeNews.com) — Parents in New Hampshire are outraged after learning that the YMCA, in partnership with a local school district, took a group of junior high school students to a Planned Parenthood abortion business. The Manchester school district has come under fire for the trip and promises students will never go there again.
The Manchester school district has partnered with the YMCA to put together a program for at-risk students who are in danger of dropping out of school.
YMCA took the students to various places around town to show them summer programs and places to get involved in positive activities. However, a local Planned Parenthood was also on the list of places.
As a result, the YMCA took 41 seventh and eighth grade students last Wednesday to the abortion facility.
Mayor Frank Guinta, chairman of the city school board, told the Manchester Union Leader newspaper that he has heard from numerous parents who were upset and promised to never subject the students to a tour of an abortion center again.
"I’m extremely disappointed," he said of the YMCA trip choice. "I don’t think it’s appropriate for that age group, nor do I think it’s appropriate for that kind of information to be disseminated to kids in that age group by a school program."
"I would expect that these types of trips won’t take place in the future," he added, saying he was not aware the list of field trip destinations included Planned Parenthood.
Assistant Superintendent of Schools Frank Bass also confirmed to the Union Leader that the trip would be its first and last.
"We’ve talked to the YMCA and told them that in the future we’re not going to visit Planned Parenthood," he said.
Anne Johnson, the Planned Parenthood staff member who spoke for three minutes to the children at the abortion center, said abortion was never discussed. However, the students encountered pro-life protesters on the way into the center and knew that’s what the facility did.
But Joyce Palmer, the YMCA’s community outreach director, defended the trip in comments to the newspaper.
"The intent of the day was to provide information to kids who are getting ready for the summer and won’t have the support of school or at home," said Palmer. "The intent was not to take kids to an abortion clinic. That word was never said."
Dawn Michaud, principal of Parkside Middle School new about the trip beforehand and also defended the trip calling it more of a "job fair."
ACTION: Please contact the following to express your dismay: Middle School at Parkside, 75 Parkside Ave, Manchester, NH 03102 or call (603) 624-6356. You can fax a letter to 603-624-6355 or email Dawn Smith-Michaud at [email protected]. Also contact the Manchester School District at 286 Commercial Street, Manchester, NH 03101. (p) 603-624-6300, (f) 603-624-6337.
Related web sites:
Manchester school district – https://www.mansd.org
