20th Annual Tradition of Choice Luncheon

Planned Parenthood Supporters Celebrating 20 Years of Advocacy

(West Palm Beach)— The annual event season is upon us and while it has been a tough year for many in our community, Planned Parenthood’s community leaders have found 20 reasons to celebrate.  March 3, 2011 marks the 20th annual Tradition of Choice Luncheon supporting Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast.  To commemorate this special anniversary, Planned Parenthood is honoring the 24 women who have given their heart and soul to ensuring women, men and teens have access to medically accurate sex education and affordable reproductive health care.

More than 400 Planned Parenthood supporters are expected to attend 20th Annual Tradition of Choice Luncheon at the Kravis Center on Thursday, March 3, 2011.  The event will feature Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Anna Quindlen, as the keynote speaker. 

Cynthia R. Brown, chair of the very first Tradition of Choice Luncheon, is serving as chair of this special anniversary.  “It has been an honor to be part of this fundraiser from the beginning. Through the leadership of many women in this community, this event has blossomed from a small event focused on advocacy for Planned Parenthood’s services to an annual fundraiser that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide sexual health education and services to thousands of teens in our community.”

To celebrate this special 20th anniversary, Mrs. Brown will be joined by the event chairs from the past 20 years who will be serving as honored chairs. 

The 20th annual Tradition of Choice event comes during a coordinated and highly political effort to undermine Planned Parenthood and the preventative health care and education the organization provides. Under the guise of deficit reduction, the House Republican leadership is pursuing the most politically driven assault on women’s health in American history. The recently released FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) completely eliminates the nation’s family planning program, Title X.  This program has provided millions of American women with lifesaving health care since Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1970.

In pursuit of his highly political and extreme agenda, Rep. Mike Pence — with the full support of Speaker John Boehner — will also offer an amendment to prohibit all Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving any federal funds to provide affordable cancer screenings, birth control, HIV testing, and testing and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. These are dangerous proposals, and the new leaders of the House are pushing them forward at great risk to women. 

The House leadership is also proposing to completely eliminate the recently established teen pregnancy prevention community grants, which provide evidence-based sex education to American teenagers.  These programs ensure that teens have the accurate information and the necessary tools they need to avoid unintended pregnancy and lead healthy and productive lives. Instead of supporting programs that reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, House leaders are aggressively pursuing policies that would dismantle the very programs that are responsible for preventing 973,000 unintended pregnancies and 406,000 abortions each year.

“The House leadership’s proposal to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and Title X, and to gut teen pregnancy prevention community grants is bad policy, bad politics, and flat-out immoral,” says Lillian Tamayo, President/CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast. “We thank our Tradition of Choice 20th anniversary Honored Chairs and all of our supporters for standing with us and helping to protect Planned Parenthood and the women, men, and teens our health centers serve.”

EVENT INFORMATION

EVENT:                       20th Annual Tradition of Choice Luncheon

Benefiting Planned Parenthood’s Teen Time Program

EVENT CHAIRS:          Chairwoman: Cynthia Brown

Honored Chairs: Carole Barham, Joan Barovick, Elaine Bass, Edith Y. Broida, Phyllis F. Cohen, Joan Gelch, Susan Glabman, Michelle Grobman, Gayle B. Jacobs, Veronica D. Karlan, Ruth F. Krall, Evelyn Krause, Judy Kutner, Dorothy Marson, Bena S. Racine, Lilian E. Rieur, Terri Sackett, Anjette Scheiman, Judy Schlossman, Adele Shamban, Betsy Shapiro, Hope Silverman and The late Nancy Atkin

SPEAKERS:                Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author

WHEN:                        Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 11:00 AM

WHERE:                      Cohen Pavilion, Kravis Center, West Palm Beach

TICKETS:                   $125 per person;  RSVP: (800) 225-1540 or www.ppsoflo.org

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The mission of Planned Parenthood of South Florida and the Treasure Coast is to provide comprehensive sexual health care through the provision of clinical services, education and advocacy. We do so by understanding and responding to the needs of those seeking our services, and by protecting and respecting the essential privacy rights, dignity and culture of each individual.

www.ppsoflo.org