I saw an interesting combination in Sunday’s Des Moines Register. In the “Nation & World” section, there was an article on the front page about the abortion doctor who was killed recently, and inside was a column about a central Iowa school that won’t allow Planned Parenthood ads in the student newspaper.

What does the presence of these two issues say about our society? I think it illustrates a contradiction in the convictions of the pro-life movement.

Besides the obvious problem of one of their members who is protesting abortion as murder by killing someone, we have a movement that is opposed to abortion but also often opposed to contraception.

I understand that not all pro-life advocates support killing abortion doctors; most of them deplore the practice.

But in my experience, many pro-life advocates do raise a ruckus over things like Planned Parenthood ads.

Planned Parenthood is trying to prevent the need for an option like abortion. Yes, they do give some abortions — a whopping 2 percent of their patient visits in 1996-97 dealt with abortion, according to their 1997 annual report.

But most of what Planned Parenthood does is provide health care, promote responsible sexuality education and protect reproductive rights.

What could possibly be wrong with providing health care, education and contraceptives for those who seek them out?

The superintendent who wouldn’t allow the Planned Parenthood ads said Planned Parenthood tells girls to have sex. I don’t think so.

It is hard to believe anyone who is not already sexually active is going to go to Planned Parenthood. I remember everybody joking about it when I was in junior high and high school — it was not a “cool” place to be seen.

No teen is going to go to Planned Parenthood unless he or she really needs their services.

And I think any teen who is having sex needs to be armed with the information and equipment to keep clear of STDs and unwanted pregnancy.

As for the abstinence idea, it works for some, but not others.

Now, I have no problem with people who abstain from sex. Whether they do so for religious or other reasons, I don’t care. They’re not bringing unwanted children into the world, and that’s great.

I don’t really understand all their reasons, however, and I don’t appreciate it when people say I should live like they do because their’s is the “right” or “moral” way.

I would say I’m not the only one who feels this way, and I’m betting that there are always going to be people who have sex before marriage.

“Maybe,” you say, “but Planned Parenthood still does abortions, and we don’t want them advertising in our school newspaper.”

Well, those of you who are just dead set against abortion (no pun intended) probably won’t be swayed by my argument, but I’m going to give it to you anyway.

You say all life is precious, but I have to say that some lives are more precious than others.

I think the life of a woman who has lived 15, 20 or 30 years is more important than the life of a fetus which doesn’t even have consciousness.

Therefore, if a an educated woman who knows her options decides for some reason that she needs an abortion, I tend to think she should be able to have one.

Try thinking of it this way: Any woman who would have an abortion was probably having some serious doubts about her ability to be a mother.

To me, a woman who has an abortion because she realizes she is not ready to take care of a baby is acting more responsibly than a woman who accidentally gets pregnant and decides to go ahead and have the baby even though she has no way to support a child.

I don’t think people who don’t use contraceptives and repeatedly find that they need abortions should be able to abuse the system, but I’m sure Planned Parenthood encourages women who do have abortions to use contraceptives more wisely in the future.

It’s nice that we have people looking out for all the little fetuses in the world, but we can’t forget to consider the women’s side, too.

I don’t think letting Planned Parenthood put an ad in a high school newspaper is going to corrupt anyone, and it might save some girl’s life.

Maybe some girl who is sexually active will see the ad and go to Planned Parenthood to get educated about contraceptives. Maybe she will avoid an abortion.

Isn’t that what we all want?

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Catherine Conover is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Mapleton. She is features editor of the Daily.