Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Banning federal money to go to Planned Parenthood?

I love Planned Parenthood. Something like 3% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortions. They do tons of other services besides abortions. They cover breast cancer and stds and regular health issues. It's where I first went to get birth control. It's where I went when I was confused by wacky periods and worried I was pregnant one time. It just so happened that I looked up their address but not their hours and they were locking the doors and going home right as I got there. One woman unlocked the door, turned back on the lights, and sat and talked to me for 10 minutes right then. She then spent five minutes giving me a proper appointment and looking up the titles of books she thought would help me better understand my body. 

My mom was hardcore Italian, and my guess is that she wouldn't want any of her girls getting an abortion. But I would, if I woke up pregnant tomorrow. Maybe 20 years from now things will feel different. For now though, having a kid, or even getting through a pregnancy and giving away a baby, is not possible. To be honest, I'd heavily encourage my sisters to get abortions too, if they wound up pregnant. Maybe that's not the right thing to do, but if they didn't come to the conclusion themselves that we, as a group, can not take on a helpless person, then I'd totally push them to do it.

I wouldn't say that to anyone else. Even if a friend was making a terrible mistake in keeping a baby, it would be their mistake to make. I have talked with people who are against abortions, and have never been able to understand why they would feel it's their place to take away someone else's right. If abortions are legal, it doesn't mean you have to have one if you don't want one. I mean, medical marijuana is legal in California but you don't see the people who choose not to smoke fleeing the state, right?

So yeah, I'm bummed about this. So is my uterus.

14 comments:

Chris (a girl) said...

This is a really nasty can of worms and I admit I avoid this sort of conversation, but thing is people who are against abortion aren't so much against people doing harm to themselves (like drugs), even if the psychological and possible physiological consequences are such pests, they are against people doing harm to someone else.

Sam said...

Right, but how can they know that letting a pregnancy continue until there's a human out in the world will be harmless? If it truly were, then children would never ever be abused.

~C~ said...

Amen, Sam! I'm right there with you.

Teki said...

Please, oh please, contact your state reps and senators about this issue. I am absolutely for PP. So many people are trying to make this an issue about abortion. This is about low income women getting affordable reproductive care. Being pro-choice doesn't mean being pro-abortion. Please email your state leaders, PP is too important and every voice counts!

Anonymous said...

Signed the letter and am right there with you. PP was there for me when I was 18 and PG and they guided me through the whole process. No way was I ready for a baby andf I regret NOTHING!!!!! God Bless them!

Isabel said...

Very eloquently said. I really wish the majority of people thought like you (in regards to most things, actually). You hit this issues right on the head.

Right-to-life people are typically folks who would never have to struggle if they got pregnant. They have time, money and resources for a kid. Not all of them, but many of them. Others have no problem doing the crap that gets them pregnant...and acting like an idiot during pregnancy...and then dump the responsibility of actually raising their child on family, friends and the government. The rest of it is based in religion. Which is sort of a moot point for those of us that just aren't...religious.

In truth, I was born and raised a Catholic, and I fully support every aspect of PP. I am pro-choice as well. I guess I'm a shitty Catholic.

Why is everything so polarized? Why can't people look at PP for what it is, the entire spectrum of it? They save lives, they save sanity, they educate, they treat, they prevent. I've gone to them many times in my life, especially in college. I would encourage my daughters to do the same, if they weren't comfortable with coming to me.

But yeah, let's just pull the funding. That way, the girls going their for birth control and STD treatment and the myriad of other services offered can now just go out and get some kind of VD, then get pregnant, then get stuck with a child who grows up unwanted. That's totally the solution.

Isabel said...

I have a lot of fucked up grammatical errors in that post. My bad. Multitasking at work (whoops). You get the point.

Chris said...

Unfortunately, unwanted children are at risk of abuse. Planned children are also at risk of abuse. Nobody knows that bringing a human to the world is harmless, ever. But I doubt you'd be mad at a cop for saving someone who was attacked in a dark alley, just on the grounds that the same person might be one day abused by someone else.

So the way I see it, the crux of the matter simply lies in whether unborn babies are people or not.


[Off-topic, mostly: That said, I can't say I'm against PP as a whole. I'm not even from the US. I do think education and prevention have to come first, because this is not the kind of decision to be taken lightly. And this comes from someone in a country where the number of abortions is higher than that of live births, and managed an abortion rate of 93% in the nineties - so you see we're more open-minded than you folks! You have to wonder then, if so many of those women were poor, single, inexperienced teens, raped and abused, or this is getting to be a thing about as normal as getting a facial.]

Stephanie said...

Amen Chris! People need to be responsible first! It's not the child's fault; they didn't ask for this did they? Things happen and just because it's inconvenient, doesn't mean you can't do the right thing. A fetus has a heartbeat before you even know you're pregnant! 23 years ago I was a pregnant 17 yr old. We did the responsible thing and got married (we're still married) and made a life for ourselves and our now 2 boys. I look at my 22 yr old son everyday and thank God I made the right choice! We started with nothing, and made something of ourselves with no one else helping us along the way. Having a baby didn't hold us back from anything. I think it's just selfishness.

Mizasiwa said...

im not going to read the comments until iv written = dont be bummed. Im not pro abortion but iv never been in the situation you and your sisters are in. This makes life in general different and the way you perceive life different and just about every other decision you will ever make different from anyone else. you are doing a great job and you are the most thoughtful and honest person iv never met ;-) i hope my sisters land up to be like you - its not likely but itd be nice ;-)

Mizasiwa said...

oh yes iv also been a firm beliver that on puberty humans should get a hormone depresser or something and need to pass a test to be a parent. - i totally understand that i would have failed this test but i still believe there are far too many people out there responisble for helpless babies/toddlers and kids that should never be allowed near that kind of responisiblity!! im just saying ...

Mizasiwa said...

sorry just read comments and now understand why you are bummed - im an idiot but my excuse is that im not US im SA!! sorry... but also im a catholic and Isabel your not a bad catholic just and educated one!!

Isabel said...

The issue isn't just about abortion, and that's Sam's point. It's about the myriad of other services that PP provides in order to PREVENT abortions and other sexual issues from occuring in the first place. But the general public's need to polarize this topic and make PP equate to an abortion factory is so detrimental to what to what the organization itself is trying to accomplish in the first place. Planned. Parenthood. They help women to plan these things. They promote sexual health. A small component of that involves abortion.

I love it when people start talking about how happy they are to have not aborted and all that. Well, duh. You're sort of an asshole if you're going to tell me that you wish you had aborted your adult child. It's terrific that you had the means. It's also incredibly ignorant to think that every other woman can - or wants to - take the path that you've taken. There's struggling to make ends meet, then there's people with NO opportunity whatsoever who will raise these kids in extreme poverty, for example. Or there's a girl who made a mistake...and suddenly, you want to tell her what her choices are and aren't. Personally, I think that all of those stringent pro-lifers should put their money where their mouth is. If you want to save the babies, then start ponying up and offer to take care of them...especially if you're so hell bent on taking away another woman's choice.

I also can't stand the term pro-abortion. Don't be ridiculous. Nobody is pro-abortion. That's a extremist play on words.

Yankee, Transferred said...

I'm going to avoid the whole abortion argument here. My views on abortion have nothing to do with my views of PP as a whole. First of all, PP is already prohibited from using federal funds for abortion. What cutting off funding will do is exactly what you are bummed about: it will prevent people without other resources to get the support and information they need to make informed decisions about their own health. It will eliminate low-cost mammography at PP centers. It will restrict access to reproductive information for young people. It is a travesty, and in my opinion, a direct result of reactionary thinking.
Just sayin'.