SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 27, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Planned Parenthood of Utah announced Thursday it will not distribute condoms it had designed with the CTR logo, a reference to “Choose the Right,” a song used to teach children in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
There’s also a CTR symbol, formerly used on plastic rings given to children, and more recently used as a jewelry design to make rings popular with young adult members of the Church.
The song, ring and CTR shield symbol serve as reminders to act in accordance with the moral tenets of the church, which include a prohibition of sex outside of marriage.
“PPAU has designed a special run of CTR condoms to give away at the 2016 Salt Lake Summer Symposium of Sunstone Magazine,” said a post on the Facebook page of the Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah.
“Our intent was never to offend, but to use the idea of ‘choosing the right’ to spark open, honest conversations about sexual health and contraception. We strive to be sensitive to our community and after listening to feedback, we have decided to remove the photo from our Facebook page and not give out the condoms at the Sunstone Symposium.
“We do not want to distract from the conference itself or from the more important information our volunteers are there to share.”
PPAU also removed photos of the condoms from its Facebook page.
LDS Church spokeswoman Kristen Howey has stated the Church owns rights to the phrase and the CTR shield design, which was used on the condom wrapper. The church did not give Planned Parenthood permission to use either, Howey has said in interviews.
