Joycelyn Elders Quotes

We want better reasons for having children than not knowing how to prevent them.

Every child a wanted child, every mother a willing mother.

We must not inflict life on children who will be resented; we must not inflict unwanted children on society.

Abortion is part of being a mother and of caring for children, because part of caring for children is knowing when it is not a good idea to bring them into the world.

Sex education classes are like in-home sales parties for abortions.

Contraceptives should be used on every conceivable occasion.

If they are opposed to abortion, they should be for preventing unintended pregnancies.

The main reason Italian women resort to abortion is the Catholic insistence that no birth control information be distributed.

The best public policy is to encourage fewer abortions through strong adoption laws and sending a clear abstinence message to our children.

I want guys out there to think when they are in the magic moment of lovemaking that if this woman gets pregnant, I'm going to be on a financial hook for the rest of my life.

I adore your catchy slogan, “Adoption, not Abortion,” although no one has been able to figure out, even with expert counseling, how to use adoption as a method of birth control, or at what time of the month it is most effective.

If we want to help pregnant women, let's make sure that each pregnancy is a wanted pregnancy.

I say that this is a dirty, filthy book, and the test of it is that no human being would allow that book on his table, no decently educated English husband would allow even his wife to have it…the object of it is to enable a person to have sexual intercourse, and not to have that which in the order of Providence is the natural result of that sexual intercourse. That is the only purpose of the book and all the instruction in the other parts of the book leads up to that proposition.

An unexpected pregnancy in a poor household often becomes a public burden down the road. Studies show that a public investment of $1 for family planning saves $4 in future costs like food stamps and other public assistance.

If you want Republicans to care about kids, your just going to have to jam them back in the uterus.

There are fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer occasions where a woman is confronted with that decision if she has access to family planning and birth control. That's why I support Planned Parenthood; that's why I support Title X.

We know that the way to decrease unplanned pregnancies and abortions is to make birth control and family planning services accessible and affordable, not micromanage the type of medical information and reproductive health counseling that women around the world receive.

Bottom line: Contraception does not reduce abortion.

I want every child that's born in the world to be planned and wanted.

Bringing a child into the world makes sense only if this child is wanted consciously and freely by its two parents. If it is not, then it is simply animal and criminal behavior.

Nearly 100 years ago, when Planned Parenthood was founded, birth control was illegal.

I used to think it a pity that her mother rather than she had not thought of birth control.

Everybody goes to clinics, to hospitals, to doctors, and so on. Some people go to Planned Parenthood. But you don't have to go to Planned Parenthood to get your cholesterol or your blood pressure checked. If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that's well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.

Just because you can have a baby, it doesn't mean you should. Especially without planning for one or getting married first.

We believe in funding family planning because it helps to prevent unintended pregnancy. We believe that a woman considering an abortion should not be forced to have an ultrasound against her will.