Gay Marriage versus Reproductive Rights

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by Alexander Sanger

Katha Pollitt recently penned (see http://www.thenation.com/article/205049/theres-reason-gay-marriage-winning-while-abortion-rights-are-losing) another one of her astute analyses of the failure of reproductive rights to gain traction with the American public. She points out that gay rights are on a juggernaut to legality and respectability. She sets forth a number of reasons, a few of which deserve elaboration. Continue reading →

On this Earth Day Invest in Family Planning

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by Alexander Sanger

Last year, I traveled to Bolivia to get a firsthand glimpse of the work of our local Member Association CIES. It’s hard to forget the twenty-minute drive from the airport to La Paz’s city center. Nestled high above Bolivia’s capital city, the airport is located in El Alto, which offers a sweeping view of La Paz below and Bolivia’s dramatic mountains along the horizon. While El Alto was little more than a village sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands have flooded in from the countryside–escaping increasingly erratic weather and difficult agricultural conditions–to find work and opportunity in recent years.
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The Sangers- Artists and Rebels

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The Sangers – Artists and Rebels on Display May 1 for First Friday Art Walk

Exhibit features the artwork of Margaret, William and Alexander Sanger

As a part of First Friday Art Walk, May 1, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) will sponsor The Sangers – Artists and Rebels, an exhibition of the paintings, drawings and photographs of two generations of the Sanger family, Margaret, William and Alexander. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, took up watercolors after moving to Tucson, Arizona in the late 1930’s painting mostly desert scenes (photo attached). By contrast, her husband, William Sanger, was a professional painter as well as architect, and began displaying his work in the 1910’s (photo of painting attached). A frequent visitor to Maine, many of his canvases are stormy, dramatic and visceral. Alexander Sanger took up drawing and watercolors after his retirement as President and CEO of PPNYC in 2000. He paints, like his grandfather, on the Maine coast and also in New York City.
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Sangers: Artists and Rebels Art Show in Portland, Maine

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On Friday May 1 the gallery at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England will be hosting “The Sangers: Artists and Rebels”, featuring the drawings, watercolors and photographs of yours truly, together with watercolors by my grandparents, Margaret and William Sanger. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the art of my family. This is also the 100th anniversary of my grandfather’s going to jail for birth control, preceding my grandmother’s first incarceration by a year.

The gallery is a 443 Congress Street, Portland, Maine and will be open 5-8pm.

Tom Webber

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Tom Webber 1943-2015

The Planned Parenthood family lost a mighty warrior on February 26 – Tom Webber died at age 71, far too young. His lungs gave out, no surprise to those who knew him, since he had a habit of using them at full volume on many occasions, whether he needed to or not. I first met Tom in 1991 at a meeting of the CEOs of the larger Planned Parenthood affiliates. Since I was new, I introduced myself to my new daunting colleagues. Whatever I said, it inspired Tom to come up to me at the first break to welcome me and thank me. Shortly thereafter, as the meeting recommenced, Tom launched into one of his habitual diatribes about some organizational failing, weakness or idiocy. He would lean forward, point his finger around the room and dare anyone to contradict him. It was great theater, and he also invariably made sense.
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