Oftentimes, when I didn’t have health care, I knew that I could go to Planned Parenthood for birth control. As a teenager, that’s where I went to ensure I wouldn’t get pregnant. Birth control allowed me to go to school and college and get my master’s and find the best time to create a family.

The care I received at Planned Parenthood inspired me to become a nurse. I am Puerto Rican, and I grew up in the Bronx, where the clinics were not the best. The stereotype was that if you were Puerto Rican, you were going to become pregnant. At Planned Parenthood, the nurses and doctors treated me with respect and not as a stereotype. They inspired me to pursue nursing for my second career.

Even when I worked at Mercy Hospital, I ended up going back to Planned Parenthood for my birth control in my 30s. At any age and for any level of need, Planned Parenthood health centers are a safe place to get knowledgeable and respectful care. Without Planned Parenthood, it would have been much harder for me avoid an unintended pregnancy.

The fact that Judge Brett Kavanaugh wants to take insurance-covered birth control away from people is wrong. He is entitled to his own beliefs, but he shouldn’t use his position to force them on others.

I ask Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Angus King: Please do not allow Judge Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court.

Naneen Chace-Ortiz, MS, R.N.

Buxton