This afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to ban federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Last Saturday, I cried in the lobby of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center, one of the Greater Philadelphia area’s 20 Planned Parenthood locations.
My tears of relief came last weekend when an employee told me my birth control would cost only $36 a month (instead of the $87 I’d been paying out of pocket for the last year when I switched insurance plans after a job transition). For me, this savings is a huge amount of money.
But that kind of care could be eliminated if this legislation passes through the Senate and is not vetoed by President Obama.
To me, that is horrifying and the reasons why have nothing to do with abortion, though if you listen to some Republican pro-Lifers, you’d think that’s all Planned Parenthood does.
I have never had an abortion, but for almost 10 years — more than a third of my life — I’ve been going to Planned Parenthood.
Depending on my financial situations, I’ve gone for a variety of treatments— for things like birth control, but also for basic health exams and biopsies for cervical dysplasia.
Each year, 25,000 Philadelphians receive preventative care — read: not abortions — at Planned Parenthood. These people are like me; they’re looking to receive medical care for a realistic price. To take that option away is not just unfair, it’s downright unethical.
Planned Parenthood has drafted a petition that phrases my anger more articulately than I can muster through my seething right now:
How could you?
How could you betray millions of women — and men, and teens — who rely on Planned Parenthood for basic health care?
How could you condemn countless women in this country to undiagnosed cancer, unintended pregnancies, and untreated illnesses?
Your vote was not only against those who seek care at Planned Parenthood health centers, but against every one of us who has ever sought care there, and against every one of us who knows that when we are healthy, when we are in charge of our lives, we thrive.
It was a vote against me.
If you feel similarly, you can sign the petition here.
February 18th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
February 18th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
February 18th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Luke 6:38 The Scriptures, Matthew 25:31-40, Proverbs 14:21, Psalms 41:1-2
February 19th, 2011 at 1:48 am
Our system of government is made to protect minority interests from majority oppression. Luckily, this bill will have to go through the Senate as well as the President for presentment.
Depriving PP of federal funds is that same as abandoning PP, effectively leaving it to the political whimsy of the single state and the people of that state. Yet, as constitutional jurisprudence makes clear, the federal law protects a woman’s right to choose birth control, abortion, etc. This proposed amendment serves to achieve political ends by means of cutting-off access to exercise this constitutionally protected individual decisions.
While not everyone will agree with the services PP offers, those people have to understand that paying for government subsidies (especially ones that are political hot-potatoes) is part of the government’s role.
In conclusion, suck it up and appreciate that we are a nation the protects individual rights.
February 19th, 2011 at 8:36 am
February 19th, 2011 at 9:19 am
February 19th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
February 19th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
February 20th, 2011 at 2:41 am
Abortion, preventative care, birth control, whatever. I’m not paying for it! What happened to individual responsibility in this country? But no, I’m the bad guy, causing oppression because I don’t want to pay for you?
To Lauren: over-populated? Have you been to west Texas? It’s presumptuous to assume his children will be incarcerated. It’s fact that taxpayers are subsidizing birth control.
February 20th, 2011 at 10:49 am
February 21st, 2011 at 11:19 am
Yes, you are teh bad guy – you said it, so you get it.
We the people are responsible for We the people.
How a society treats those who are most in need shows the true nature of that society.
So preventing death and disgusting disease for those most in need is not your concern.. is it ?
Be ashamed – you should be
February 21st, 2011 at 3:50 pm
February 21st, 2011 at 6:28 pm
February 22nd, 2011 at 1:07 pm
February 24th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
I don’t like to fund the war in Iraq, or Afghanistan.
I really hate that my taxes fund things like “abstinence only”…but that comes with being part of society.
God’s plan? How DARE you decide what i should believe about God? My God thinks YOU are a selfish, heartless bigot. But I’m sure you Doctor will prove me wrong. Prove that you supply medical services to women who have the need of them, even if they can’t pay.
Oh that’s right…you don’t HAVE to.
Judge ye not….
March 3rd, 2011 at 1:52 pm