A disturbing app marketed to kids by Planned Parenthood has prompted the creation of a healthy, pro-life alternative.
Two years ago, Planned Parenthood launched the “sexual health” chatbot app called Roo with a flippant tweet:
“A robot that answers your sexual health questions accurately, doesn’t judge, and is freakin’ adorable? Yes please."
While the abortion giant says the app is directed at 13–17-year-olds, any child of any age can access it 24/7. Kids can ask any question they like, or pick from pre-written questions, ranging from relationships to pornography to “transgender” issues.
Planned Parenthood’s app makes clear the abortion business’s belief that sexual activity is perfectly fine at any age and that abortion is 'healthcare.’ Those behind Roo emphasize that there is no judging on the app.
“Planned Parenthood knows that young people need developmentally appropriate and accurate information about relationships, their bodies, and sex, without feeling shamed or judged for their curiosity,” the abortion giant said, according to a report from CNSNews, “and research has shown that chatbot technology can lower users’ fears and increase their willingness to disclose personal information.”
Roo teaches about “masturbation” and “reproductive health” (abortion).
The app can easily book an appointment for a user at the nearest Planned Parenthood with a simple click of a link at the bottom of the screen.
“Everything that Planned Parenthood can offer, in a nutshell, is that they want to confuse youth about their sexuality, get them addicted to sex,” said Theresa Barbale, the woman behind a forthcoming pro-life alternative app, MyMentor. “They want them to be dependent on contraceptives, and they want them ultimately as clients for abortion, or they want their significant other as a client for abortion.”
In addition to downplaying sexual risks, marriage, and talking to parents, kids can order abortion pills through the Planned Parenthood Roo app, according to Barbale.
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Among the concerns over chemical abortion is access to the abortion drugs without seeing a doctor or having an ultrasound to confirm the age of the unborn child and rule out ectopic pregnancy and other conditions. In some states the pills can be obtained without parental consent.
Abortion pills are legal in the U.S. for up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, but without an in-person exam from a doctor procuring abortion drugs via Roo means the user will not be medically confirming how many weeks along they are in their pregnancy, a real safety issue.
Sex trafficking is another area concern, as Barbale noted that if abortion pills are provided without in-person appointments it will be easier for traffickers to obtain them.
Barbale, executive director of Life Network of Southwest Florida, was aware of Planned Parenthood’s efforts to sell more contraception and abortion via Roo and saw the need for a pro-family, pro-life alternative.
Outrage over the unhealthy and immoral Roo app and finding that south Florida schools were pointing kids to it prompted Barbale to create MyMentor.
"We know Planned Parenthood's strategy of targeting teens, and even pre-teens,” Barbale said in a report from LifeSiteNews. “Get into the schools, reach them online, hold teen nights, and more. Now their Roo app aims to further distance kids from their parents’ advice and involvement on issues of sex, gender, contraception, and abortion."
Roo tells users parental permission is usually unnecessary for birth control except in certain states, and that Planned Parenthood can help teens “get started on birth control.”
Planned Parenthood data says 2.5 Roo saw 2.5 million users in 2021. The abortion giant claims that Roo's answers to inquiries are backed by "health educators from Planned Parenthood, the most trusted provider of sexual education."
Just like with its other nefarious offerings for youth, the nation’s largest abortion business took its Roo app to schools.
"Even though Life Network of Southwest Florida has a great schools program, counseling centers would always refer youth to the Planned Parenthood Roo App for assistance,” Barbale said, “so we wanted to combat this with a pro-life equivalent for mentoring youth and preventing abortion."
MyMentor will differ from Roo in that it will promote abstinence and kids communicating with parents.
With suicide and depression rates skyrocketing across the U.S., the thought that Roo calls itself an “emotional health” resource for young people is especially disturbing.
“Kids are looking for social, emotional help, and they’re being turned to a Roo chatbot,” said Barbale. “You don’t want kids who have emotional health issues to go to Planned Parenthood.”
A crucial difference between chatbot Roo and MyMentor is that MyMentor will connect kids to live, trained counselors.
MyMentor will use real professionals who can look for signs of distress and connect kids to appropriate resources near them.
If a child talks about drug or alcohol use, or a family breakup, they can be connected to a face-to-face counselor near them with MyMentor.
A chatbot can't recognize a kid in need who just lost a grandparent, or a teen who's being pressured to have sex or have an abortion.
It also won't discuss LGBT or so-called “gender transition” in any kind of a moral framework.
Planned Parenthood has looked for ways to expand business, including branching out into the business of sex hormone therapy, with many of its centers offering powerful “transition” drugs, making this is another extremely dangerous thing for Planned Parenthood to lure kids to through the Roo app.
Not only will MyMentor not promote contraception or abortion, it also won’t push "gender hormone therapy."
The MyMentor app can counter the destructive effects of the Roo app, said Barbale. Instead of sending young people to abortion centers, MyMentor will offer the locations of crisis pregnancy centers and other forms of help.
"Youth who are seeking emotional support should be met with compassion and support,” she said, “not an agenda."
The concept and research for the forthcoming MyMentor came together through a team of programmers, designers, and data testers. The process was complex and included hundreds of hours of testing. Fundraising was set up primarily through a LifeSite funding page and is ongoing.
While the funding and launch for MyMentor are worked out, pro-lifers are praying for its success, and for its potential to save babies and young people from the dangerous clutches of Planned Parenthood. Click HERE for more information.
