Propaganda is Alive and Well under the Pro-Life banner. (121 hits)
I am a woman who has never had an abortion and at my age, I never will but it really gets me going when women (especially women of color) go on the attack of pro-choice women. I have had one pregnancy and the result of that pregnancy is a 40+ year old daughter who is very successful. She is married and the mother of a 23 year old soon to be engineer.
I am a strong believer in education; especially when it must take the place of mis-information. I have been an active supporter of Planned Parenthood and will continue to be that. I know from firsthand experience exactly what they go through to help parents talk to their children about s*x and how to protect them from something worse than abortion...that's loosing the life of that child you love so much right now!
Abortion is such a private decision that I really don't think anyone needs to insinuate themselves into a painful situation that does not involve the "pro-lifer". They are not really pro-life; just pro-birth. I see so many young mothers with two, three and more children that they cannot take care of. Where are the pro-lifers then? Who provides direct help, money and education to these young women? It's not enough to "get um here"; we need to help them become productive members of our communities. My daughter and I took my granddaughter to Planned Parenthood before she went away to college. We have taught her that abstinence is the only 100% way to prevent unintended pregnancy but if she had gotten pregnant while away, I'd want her to get to Planned Parenthood as fast as her legs could carry her and have a safe termination if that was her choice (not the only choice PP offers by the way). Too many women have died using the "home remedy" of the coat hanger or other harmful substance in the body just to keep secret a mistake.
I'd rather have my granddaughter alive and well than cripple or dead because of the lack of good reproductive health care.
This is a topic we don't even need to have because of Plan B for instances of rape, or broken c*ndom. These days a woman can go into the pharmacy and within 72 hours of the incident take the so called "morning after pill" and there would be no need for abortion. Why not help spread that word instead of how you think Planned Parenthood spends its money. I have asked for and received copies of their annual reports and a fraction of less than 5% has gone to abortion. The rest went to education, primary care, mammograms, HIV/AIDS testing to name a few. They also have programs to work with teen moms to help them finish school and prevent a second pregnancy and for the young men; the Male Involvement Program so that young men understand the role they play in all this.
Most rabid pro-birth folks don't even know that Plan B will not cause an abortion if you are already pregnant. Good education and open and honest discussions are available to those who really want to understand for themselves what Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health agencies do ...and not repeat what someone told them.
I thank God my granddaughter did not have to make that decision. At the same time, I thank God that places like Planned Parenthood are around to make the procedure safe and may save the life of someone a "pro-lifer" really loves. Believe me; someone very close to you right now is alive because their procedure was safe.
I fully agree with you. Your post informed me about options that I did not know Planned Parenthood offered. I am childless and am pretty sure at my age that I can no longer have a child but I would not stop other women from choosing to terminate their pregnancy if it was in their best interest. For me personally if by some miracle I did get pregnant I would keep the child but I am older, more stable and know what it takes to raise a child into adulthood. In my 'hood' I see young women with 3 and 4 kids by as many different men. These young women are not capable of raising these children who often get left with other relatives who half raise them or the streets raise these kids. That is a big problem in our community. The madness has got to stop somewhere and one group cannot impose its beliefs on an entire society. More power to you Sister!!
Sunday, May 31st 2009 at 10:54PM
DeBorah Palmer
Thank you DeBorah. I took a risk in blogging about this topic but I had to respond to the blog written earlier. I know this website is to help empower other women but as you said, so many young women have no clue about what being a mom really is. I promised I wouldn't respond to blogs or editorials on this topic because I really get passionate about it. You may be in my generation and understand when we couldn't even get birth control unless we were married (or had problems with our "periods"). I just don't want to see us return to the Dark Age. I know for a fact that women of color need places like PP because most Caucasian women have access to these services so they had fewer instances of botched jobs. Thank you for supporting my position and putting your support in writing. A lot of folks are pro-choice so long as they don't have to identify themselves. Again, thank you!
Monday, June 1st 2009 at 1:49PM
Phyllis Franklin
Today I learned of the murder of Dr. George Tiller this morning in Kansas. Dr. Tiller was not affiliated with Planned Parenthood but provided all aspects of reproductive health services including pregnancy termination...guess who is aledgedly responsible? If you guessed a "pro-life" group, well, you just may be right! Seems, this group gets to be judge, jury and God. When will private decisions in America get back to being private?
