THE WORCESTER Regional Transit Authority needs to understand that sex education and family planning are neither dirty words nor political arguments. And it should follow the lead of the MBTA and other transit agencies in Eastern Massachusetts and allow Planned Parenthood to purchase advertisements on its buses.
Late last spring, the venerable reproductive health and advocacy organization was looking for ways to promote the relocation of its Central Massachusetts health center in Worcester. It contacted the Worcester transit authority in the hope of taking out bus ads from September to November, when the new center would be opening. An agreement was reached, and in June Planned Parenthood submitted a signed contract to the transit authority. A month later the group sent the authority copies of the two proposed ads.
But soon things ground to a halt. In September, the authority determined that two double entendres in the ads - “Size Matters’’ and “Bigger is Better,’’ both referring to the larger new facility - might brush against its policy of not running “tobacco, alcohol, political, or religious ads,’’ and that it would therefore have to conduct a legal review.
The authority may have been within its rights to review the ads, but what came next suggests an excess of caution at best. In September, seeking to finally get the ads up, Planned Parenthood asked if it could replace the controversial headlines with the simple statement “We’re moving’’ to avoid the delays caused by the legal review. The authority replied that they would still require a review.
But with the double entendres removed, there’s nothing in the new ad that should be considered remotely controversial. It notes that the new center provides “birth control, STD testing, gynecological services, and more,’’ and includes the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts motto: “Sexual Health Matters.’’ There is no mention of abortion.
It’s 2010. Sexual health, birth control, and testing for sexually transmitted diseases are no longer shameful, illicit subjects to be avoided in polite society. Especially in Worcester, where the teen pregnancy rate is well above the state average, opportunities for education about these issues should be broadcast at loud volumes, not squelched by squeamishness.
The transit authority told both Planned Parenthood and the Globe that ongoing delays in the review process stem from factors outside its control. That may be true, but the fact that the reviews were deemed necessary at all suggests prudish discomfort, not prudence. There’s nothing political about encouraging people to act responsibly, but there is something irresponsible about the authority’s skittishness.
