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"I was one of those kids that got pregnant early and I should have been on birth control," Massey said. "I don't want that for my girls. They don't have to do that."

Massey said she has no regrets over having an abortion and starting a family later in life, when she was ready.

The anti-abortion American Life League's STOPP International executive director, Jim Sedlak, said a Planned Parenthood clinic in Juneau would lead to an explosion of teenage sexual activity in the community.

"I think (Juneau) should understand that Planned Parenthood comes into town and pushes a philosophy of uninhibited sex," said Sedlak, whose Virginia-based consultant organization is solely committed to stopping Planned Parenthood nationwide. "And that what they should expect is if Planned Parenthood opens its doors: teen sexual activity will rise, the sexually transmitted disease rates will rise, teen pregnancies will increase, and there will be an increased demand for abortion."

Planned Parenthood of Alaska announced in late January its plans to open a clinic this fall in the capital, offering a variety of reproductive health services, including abortions. Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition, a group with no formal ties to Planned Parenthood, has raised $150,000 of the estimated $500,000 it will cost to open such a clinic.

Abortion has been a contentious issue in Juneau since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States, and apparently remains so. An unscientific Juneau Empire poll regarding the planned clinic got 1,919 responses last week, up from the 200 to 400 responses the weekly poll usually generates.

Planned Parenthood of Alaska CEO Clover Simon said anti-abortion organizations are not focusing on the entire scope of the issue.

"I think it's unfortunate that people focus on abortion when that is such a small part of our practice," she said. "That's not going to be our focus, of course. Our focus is promoting good reproductive health care."

Simon said Planned Parenthood of Alaska is dedicated to educating parents and teens about reproductive health, including information on cervical and breast cancer, conducting sexually transmitted disease testing, and providing birth control and other contraceptives.

Ida Barnack, president of Juneau's Alaskans For Life, opposes the clinic.

"The reason we are against it is because medical evidence proves that life begins at conception and we believe that life needs to be respected from conception on," Barnack said. "We believe that it is also a civil right, that anyone has a right to continue to live."

Karen Allen, a board member of Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition, said, "Reproductive rights are basic human rights."

Allen said women in Juneau are on uneven ground with men.

"Right now in Juneau, Alaska, a man can get the full range of reproductive services," she said. "A woman can't."

There are no clinics in Juneau or Southeast Alaska that conduct abortions. Those who go through the procedure must travel to Anchorage, Seattle or beyond.

Massey said she knows many teenagers in Juneau are sexually active. She said there are bigger problems parents have to deal with other than sex, among them drugs and alcohol.

"Kids getting naked is the least of my concerns here, to be perfectly honest," she said. "Unless they're having unprotected sex."

Sedlak said Planned Parenthood's attitude toward and information about sex will encourage more teenagers to become sexually active.

"We firmly believe that Planned Parenthood is a detriment to any community it moves into," he said. "Juneau will be worse off for having Planned Parenthood there."

STOPP has been in contact with more than a half-dozen members of Juneau's anti-abortion movement, sending a detailed e-mail outlining strategies to combat the opening of the clinic.

"Planned Parenthood runs the largest chain of abortion clinics in the country," Sedlak said.

Simon said she is not surprised that people from both sides of the debate have been so vocal about Planned Parenthood's plan to come to Juneau.

"People feel very strongly about this issue and want talk about it," she said.

Planned Parenthood has a long history in Alaska. The organization first opened its doors in the state in 1966, in Anchorage. A clinic opened in Sitka in 1983, in Soldotna in 1989, and one in Fairbanks opened in 2003. The clinics in Sitka and Soldotna have not offered abortions.

Simon said the nonprofit organization is moving ahead with its plan to open a clinic in Juneau and is in the process of finding an adequate space.

"We're currently looking for a place to purchase and remodel or somewhere to build a clinic. ... It's just a matter of finding the right place," Simon said.

Sedlak said he believes the clinic would do more harm than good.

Allen said the clinic would do the exact opposite. She said by providing education about sexual health and sexual responsibility Planned Parenthood would reduce the frequency of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and, ultimately, abortions.

In the "State of Alaska Induced Abortion Statistics 2004" report released by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services in February 2005 - the latest statistics available - there were a reported 1,937 abortions in 2004. There were 1,806 abortions reported in 2003. Women between ages 20 and 24 accounted for the most abortions in Alaska, with 677, or 35 percent. Girls between the ages of 15 and 17 accounted for 144, or 7.4 percent, while those between the ages of 18 and 19 accounted for 273, or 14.1 percent of all abortions in the state.

Colleen Stansbury, the health center nurse at the University of Alaska Southeast, said people are blurring the issue of what is really important by focusing on abortions. She said Juneau is in need of another clinic that can provide reproductive health care at an affordable price.

"What I see as the greatest barrier to health care to this population is money - the price of health care," Stansbury said. "I see women not getting reproductive health care, number one, and not using contraceptives, number two, because they can't afford it."

Stansbury said many young women in Juneau are working or going to school and can't afford health insurance, and therefore have limited options for reproductive health care.

Southeast Regional Manager for Public Health Nursing Sylvia Severson said a Planned Parenthood clinic in Juneau would provide women with more options at an affordable cost.

"I think that the need is here, for women to also have a choice between private providers, Planned Parenthood and the Juneau Public Health Center," she said.

Severson said she doesn't think Planned Parenthood would be competition for the Juneau Public Health Center.

"We can both have our clientele, and they may switch back and forth depending on their need at the time," she said.

Planned Parenthood of Alaska would staff the Juneau clinic with about seven people and be open for at least four days a week.

Barnack said Alaskans For Life intends to protest if the clinic opens.

"We have to have the courage to stand up for our beliefs," she said.