That’s what Planned Parenthood’s chatbot Roo tells children.
The Planned Parenthood web site says: “Roo answers all your awkward questions about sexual health, relationships, growing up, and more.” It also says that “Chatting with Roo is free and private, so go ahead and ask the things you don’t want to ask out loud.”
One can find Roo on the Planned Parenthood home page near the bottom. There is a section that says, “Need answers to those sometimes awkward questions about sexual health, relationships, and growing up?” There is then a button one can click that says, “MEET ROO.”
NewBostonPost used the chatbot earlier in the week to see what it tells children.
The bot created by the abortion giant also tells children about abortion.
If one asks Roo “What is an abortion?”, the bot says the following:
“Abortion is a legal and safe way to end a pregnancy. There are two kinds of abortion in the U.S. — in-clinic abortion and the abortion pill. There are many reasons why someone may decide to have an abortion and only you can decide what is best for you.”
Although the bot says that only the person having the abortion is involved in the decision, as a legal matter it’s not true in all cases in Massachusetts. Minors under 16 need to have parental consent or seek judicial bypass to obtain an abortion.
The bot tells children they can be multiple genders at once. One of the pre-programmed questions for gender is: “Is it normal to feel like multiple genders?”
This is Roo’s response to that question:
“It’s totally normal to identify with multiple genders. Gender isn’t always as straightforward as being a boy or a girl, and that’s OK. How you identify and express yourself can only come from how you feel, which may not fit into a gender binary (boy or girl). How you feel about your gender also may change over time, and that’s OK too.”
By “multiple,” the pre-programmed question means two or more genders.
Roo also tells children about sexual acts — and that homosexual masturbation isn’t actually homosexual.
One pre-programmed question on the topic reads: “does thinking about someone from the same sex when masturbating mean i’m gay?”
Roo says the answer is no.
“What you think or fantasize about when you masturbate doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with whether you identify as gay, straight, or bisexual. People enjoy all kinds of different fantasies — sometimes it relates to their sexual orientation, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
It also provides that same answer when asked: “Does watching gay porn mean you’re gay?”
Another pre-programmed question on the topic reads “how do girls masturbate?” Roo explains to children how to masturbate and says that not all women have the same type of genitalia, implying that biological males can be women.
“Not all girls masturbate the same way, and not all girls have the same body parts. Masturbation can include fantasizing; using sexy toys; and touching or rubbing their genitals (especially the clitoris if they have a vulva), butt, or breasts.”
Mary Ellen Siegler, communications director for the Massachusetts Family Institute, told NewBostonPost that Roo is not appropriate for children.
Siegler said by email:
Planned Parenthood’s chatbot ROO is meant to entice children to their website to ask questions about sex. When I asked a very personal question of ROO I was shocked at the information I received back. It was crass and not at all age-appropriate. ROO is being used to normalize sexual activity for teens the same way the Reynolds American company used their cartoon character Joe Camel to market cigarettes to kids. The public was outraged that a cigarette company would focus their efforts on getting youth hooked on smoking. The public needs the same degree of outrage over ROO. Marketing efforts like ROO sexualize children and set them up for multiple types of harm. Schools should not be sending students to Planned Parenthood for information on sex; they should be referring them to their parents and caregivers.
As Siegler points out, some sex-ed curriculums in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recommend Planned Parenthood’s web site as an additional resource to learn about sexual health. This includes schools that use Planned Parenthood’s GetReal curriculum, among others.
A spokesman for Planned Parenthood could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
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