
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994                   TAG: 9404230007
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT HAS TO BE A COMMUNITY EFFORT

WITH A foundation grant and a gift from an anonymous donor, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge is launching a teen-pregnancy prevention campaign. The need for such a campaign is evident in one fact alone: The city of Roanoke has the highest teen-pregnancy rate in the state.

After months of little besides community jawboning about the problem, it should be welcome news that somebody is actually doing something. It is notable that Planned Parenthood's plans are consistent with the mission it has been performing creditably in the trenches over the years: While others fret, complain or ignore, it has quietly worked to help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Even so, it's regrettable that Planned Parenthood officials were the only ones making the announcement - when what is called for is a community-wide effort.

City officials can be faulted for foot-dragging, but they say they've almost completed the roster for a task force on teen-pregnancy prevention that was announced in December. Its first meeting is scheduled for April 27. Planned Parenthood will be included on that task force, a main player in formulating the city's response to this issue, as clearly it should be.

But the task force also will be composed of representatives from a broad spectrum of outlooks and organizations. Not everyone may fully agree with the thrust of Planned Parenthood's approach - described at a press conference as encouraging abstinence but also getting "the word out about where to get [birth control] services."

Planned Parenthood's campaign strategy, to include TV ads featuring real, live local teens talking to teens, is one that has had some success elsewhere. It may be the most effective imaginable. But that's not the point here.

When the go-it-alone campaign was announced this week, Kathryn Haynie, Planned Parenthood's executive director, said: "I would challenge anyone who disagrees with us to come up with a better idea."

Well, the task force might come up with good ideas - and ones that would enjoy the imprimatur of broad-based community interest and planning.

And there is credibility, as well as creativity, to worry about.

Planned Parenthood is the most experienced organization in pregnancy-prevention. It has a highly capable staff. Haynie herself is a hero of community family-planning efforts. And Planned Parenthood got the money to produce this campaign.

Nothing's wrong with a good organization drawing attention to itself and its good works. Indeed, Planned Parenthood's agenda is the same as the community's, insofar as reducing teen pregnancy is concerned.

Yet, however well-intended, a high-profile exclusive announcement - on top of years of increasingly political stridency in favor of abortion rights - won't do much to counter suspicions in some quarters that Planned Parenthood is pushing its own agenda.

Planned Parenthood says its campaign is meant to complement the city's task-force effort (as well as a statewide abstinence-based campaign by the Better Beginnings Coalitions in Virginia). It probably will. But who knows yet what that local effort will be?

Planned Parenthood has every right to strike out on its own, to show leadership. It has good reason to be impatient, too, because the city and others have been so slow to organize for action in teen-pregnancy prevention.

But what Roanoke needs are leadership and action in service of a community-backed comprehensive campaign.

by CNB