After using clandestine tactics to investigate Planned Parenthood, Lila Rose, 20, has become known as an anti-abortion crusader. She staged her own sting at the clinics to prove her claim that the organization routinely covers up sexual abuse. She says Planned Parenthood counselors don’t report statutory rapes, as the law requires, and often encourage the girls to lie about their age or the identity of their partner. “Planned Parenthood is looking at these young girls as a plumbing problem: ‘We’ll get you that abortion and send you on your way,’” Rose told Reuters in an interview. “And that’s disrespecting two human lives. It’s destroying her pre-born child and sending her back to an abuser.” She has posted her secretly recorded videos on the website for her non-profit group, LiveAction.org, which she started at age 15.

This week, Planned Parenthood’s mailing list included an email from Judy Blume. Here’s a snippet:

If you are the daughter whose mom had the guts to give you the answers to questions you couldn’t quite figure out how to ask… If you know a mother who is struggling to raise strong, independent, and confident children in the face of unbelievable odds… Say thanks. Say thanks this Mother’s Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in her name.

Turns out, that call for donations to Planned Parenthood has angered anti-choicers because, in addition to providing general health care for women, some Planned Parenthood clinics offer abortion procedures and administer the morning after pill. PP representative Cecile Richards says that since writing the letter, Blume has been inundated with nasty phone calls, emails, and letters.

Up-and-coming designers doing collaborations with Target is becoming too predictable a path to success. Instead, an alternate way to gain name recognition and visibility is to design a line of condoms. Yes, that’s right, designer condoms. Marc Jacobs designed a rubber wrapper on his own, and then last September, Planned Parenthood released a Yigal Azrouël-designed condom wrapper for its Proper Attire line. The Planned Parenthood/designer collaboration is continuing this season with Alexander Wang‘s simple black and white package ($5.99 for 3), which just happen to match his Fall 2009 collection that came down the runway on Feb. 14. Come September, what hot designer will Planned Parenthood get to do a Proper Attire condom wrapper? We’re betting on Phillip Lim. [via Refinery29]

Not sure what to get one of your best girlfriends or a female in your family for a gift this holiday season? How about a gift certificate to Planned Parenthood in Indiana or Illinois, which can be redeemed for any of their women’s health services, including pap smears, birth control, STD tests, and, yes, abortions. The gift certificates can be bought in $25 increments and really would be a great gift for a woman who doesn’t have health insurance, as PP’s services are generally very affordable. Of course, it should have been expected that the religious right would go all koo-koo crazy about PP’s latest offering and when we linked to a College Candy story about this topic in yesterday’s Quickies, we didn’t understand how much larger the issue was.

On October 16, 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the nation’s first family planning clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Women waited on line to get information on birth control. Nine days later Sanger was arrested for violating the Comstock obscenity laws, which made it illegal to send any contraceptive devices and birth control information through the mail and banned the distribution of information on abortion for educational purposes. Unfortunately, the clinic was closed, but that didn’t stop the birth control movement. She later opened clinics, known as “Mothers’ Health Centers,” in Manhattan and the Bronx, which later became branches of Planned Parenthood of New York City. The American Medical Association didn’t recognize birth control as an essential health service until 1937, but Sanger had championed the benefits for two decades prior. [Planned Parenthood]

Teenage pregnancy is trendier than metrosexual manscaping.  From celebs like Jamie Lynn Spears to preggers Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of the Republican VP hopeful, baby bumps on babies are popping up in the most conspicuous places. In the current climate where children are exposed to sexuality through pop culture, Planned Parenthood is more needed than ever.  Yet despite their efforts, they’ve come under fire from conservative groups for their recent campaign, Take Care Down There.  We posted some love for these cheeky PSA’s back in April when the site launched, but after a cross-country summer tour, the safe-sex advocates have been getting crap for their sense of humor.  Planned Parenthood has said they are trying to appeal to their young audience through relatable slang and situations without confusing their messages with fear mongering and scientific lingo.  However, conservative groups are claiming Planned Parenthood isn’t taking the situation seriously by supporting safe-sex and masturbation via comedy sketches that the abstinence-only supported find hokey. But petty arguments aside, with one in four teenage girls already infected with an STD and teen pregnancy on the rise for the first time in almost 15 years, something has got to be done…besides all those teenagers. [ABC News]

In a recent court decision, South Dakota will enforce a law that forces doctors into guilt-tripping their patients before performing an abortion. As if making the decision isn’t hard enough, now the government requires doctors to read an statement to women that says an abortion will “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being” and may lead you to commit suicide. Um. Yeah.  While the court claimed the “burden of proof” rested squarely on Planned Parenthood, perhaps there should be some actual proof to the ludicrous suicide link within the law.  Although the safe sex organization argued that making doctors read the statement aloud to their patients was an infringement on the First Amendment, since the medical professionals don’t agree with the ideology, the court still wouldn’t budge. Now that’s scarier than unwanted children! [The International Herald Tribune]

Planned Parenthood had an annual revenue of more than $1 billion last year (note that this is revenue, not profit), raised various ways, including through payments by more affluent patients (PP charges on a sliding scale), private insurance, sales of candles, jewelry, and condoms, and federal funding. The organization is expanding, and moving into more upscale suburban areas, rather than staying in low-income areas. Last year, Planned Parenthood received more than $335 million from the government, but the money is spent on family planning and reproductive care for low-income women, not abortions. Conservative activists and politicians such as Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana believe the non-profit can do without the tax dollars since it’s so good at raising money on its own. Thoughts? [WSJ and WSJ.com]

Sex and sketch comedy go together like penis and vagina.  And the good people at Planned Parenthood of Portland, Oregon get both apparently.  While the health videos we watched in high school were dull, outdated, and often gross, their take on taking care of down there features cool hotties and is laugh out loud awesome.  Especially the silly “Down There Song”, which has made us want to rename the vag and dub it the “hot pocket.” So check out the site and use a condom!