An August 20 article in The Denver Post about a new family planning services clinic that Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains (PPRM) is building in Denver uncritically reported anti-abortion activist Leslie Hanks' comment that Planned Parenthood “get[s] young girls hooked on their birth control pills, which don't work.” In fact, according to the medical reference book Contraceptive Technology: Nineteenth Revised Edition (Ardent Media, 2007), oral contraceptives work with 92 percent efficacy for the first year of "[t]ypical [u]se" and are 99.7 percent effective with "[p]erfect [u]se."

The Post article by Karen Augé covered PPRM's announcement that it would “break ground in November on a $4.2 million headquarters and clinic on northeast Denver property it bought secretly last year.” The Post further reported, “The organization initially intended to complete the whole project in secrecy in order to avoid the kind of protests and delays that Planned Parenthood's building projects have ignited elsewhere, said Leslie Durgin, a Planned Parenthood senior vice president.”

Noting that Durgin said PPRM “anticipate[s] we will have protests” the Post reported that “Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life, said her organization ... likely would fight efforts to build a clinic”:

“Let's face it, they're in the business to kill babies for profit,” she said. “First and foremost, they get young girls hooked on their birth control pills, which don't work,” Hanks said.

Right to Life followers are among the regular protesters -- Hanks calls them “rescuers” -- at Planned Parenthood's current locations, she said.

Similar to the Post, other Colorado media outlets -- including the Rocky Mountain News, Summit Daily News, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, and KCNC CBS4 -- published an Associated Press article on their websites that also reported Hanks' quote. From the August 20 AP article:

Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life, said her organization likely would fight efforts to build a clinic.

“Let's face it. They're in the business to kill babies for profit,” she said. “First and foremost, they get young girls hooked on their birth control pills, which don't work.”

Citing the same statistics from the 18th Revised Edition of Contraceptive Technology (Ardent Media, 2004), the Guttmacher Institute noted that 0.3 percent of women who use birth control pills perfectly will become pregnant in their first year of use, while 8 percent of women who practice typical usage of the pill will become pregnant in the first year of use. Although the 19th Revised Edition of Contraceptive Technology still is in the process of being published, its 2007 Summary Table of Contraceptive Efficacy is available and states that oral contraceptives work with 92 percent efficacy for "[t]ypical [u]se" and with 99.7 percent efficacy with "[p]erfect [u]se." According to the authors' website, Contraceptive Technology is “the basic reference book in family planning for physicians and allied health personnel, has sold over 1,500,000 copies in the United States and has been translated into several languages. The authors work closely with 26 other respected clinicians, scientists, and educators to produce the books.”

Other research mirrors the findings published by Contraceptive Technology. For example, a March 2004 Canadian Contraception Consensus report from the clinical practice guidelines of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada describes oral contraceptive pills or the “combined OC” as “a highly effective method of reversible contraception” and further notes:

With perfect use, the combined OC is 99.9% effective in preventing pregnancy. However, typical user failure rates range from 3 to 8%. Poor patient compliance is a major factor in limiting effectiveness.

By comparison, the figures provided by the Guttmacher Institute indicate that for women engaging in sex and using no method of birth control, 85 percent will become pregnant in the first year of doing so.

From the August 20 article “Faceoff looms at new Planned Parenthood” by Karen Augé in The Denver Post:

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains will break ground in November on a $4.2 million headquarters and clinic on northeast Denver property it bought secretly last year, the organization has confirmed.

The organization initially intended to complete the whole project in secrecy in order to avoid the kind of protests and delays that Planned Parenthood's building projects have ignited elsewhere, said Leslie Durgin, a Planned Parenthood senior vice president.

“We changed that several months ago. We just decided that wasn't right for us,” Durgin said.

“We anticipate we will have protests,” she said.

But the organization decided the best way to handle that was to be forthright about its plans.

[...]

Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado Right to Life, said her organization will continue its opposition to Planned Parenthood and likely would fight efforts to build a clinic.

“Let's face it, they're in the business to kill babies for profit,” she said. “First and foremost, they get young girls hooked on their birth control pills, which don't work,” Hanks said.

Right to Life followers are among the regular protesters -- Hanks calls them “rescuers” -- at Planned Parenthood's current locations, she said.

The block-long work site will be fenced, and protesters will not be allowed inside the boundaries of private property, Durgin said.

“We don't expect to have a police presence on a daily basis unless we need it, in which case we'll call for it, and I have been assured we will get it,” Durgin said.