Bloodless Coup

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood recently announced that it would conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of opening a clinic in Our Fair City. I sincerely hope they do.

Already in our town the local anti-choice activists are mobilized to block the clinic, and they have started putting out propaganda that claims Planned Parenthood is involved with eugenics, and that Planned Parenthood "hurts girls." One activist said the following: "They may tell people they have family planning services and other good sounding stuff but that really hides what their main agenda is. And that is to promote abortion."

Piffle.

For a period of about ten years of my life, when I was young, in school, lacking good insurance and income, Planned Parenthood was my primary source of health care. The women who worked at the three clinics at which I was a patient were the most compassionate, most concerned, and most helpful medical professionals I've ever had. Not a year goes by that I schedule an annual checkup that I do not miss the care and the supportive attitude of their staff.

During the time that I was patient, no one ever tried to "promote abortion" to me, or for that matter, to any of the other people I knew who also received care there. I went to Planned Parenthood for yearly pap smears, physical exams, illnesses, and yes, birth control. Nor did they "push" a so-called promiscuous lifestyle. If you said that yes, you were sexually active or were considering becoming sexually active, they urged contraception and STD protection, and explained very carefully the risks and benefits of the options.

In fact, the other thing I remember about Planned Parenthood beyond the quality of care is their commitment to educating women about their own bodies. No "regular" doctor has ever taken the time to explain, or ask if I understood, the workings of my own body the way the Planned Parenthood staff did. I suppose the regular doctors figured I had taken biology in high school. I can still remember the clear plastic female anatomy model, with the colored inside bits, that show you where the ovaries are, how the fallopian tubes arch, and what the uterus is like. During one exam, the nurse asked me if I wanted to see my own cervix, and explained how they look different before and after childbirth. No judgment about how awful it would be to be a mother, how abortion is better, how I'd better be on birth control pills or my life was over. Simple, informative, caring, quality health care. And I met women who went to the clinics who were happy to be pregnant, and continued to go to Planned Parenthood for prenatal care because it was not only good, but affordable, to work with the midwife (yes! midwife!) at the same place they had received care all along.

And although I know many women who have had abortions, I don't recall knowing anyone who has had an abortion, or sought a referral for one, from a Planned Parenthood. I imagine that someone who seeks counseling about an abortion, scheduling an abortion or help finding a clinic to provide an abortion, would find the same level of kindness, education, and professional care. If I had to recommend someone considering abortion to a health care provider, I would tell them about Planned Parenthood because of their commitment to allowing women to make their own educated decisions about their own reproductive health. I would also recommend Planned Parenthood to a low income woman who wanted to keep her child, or who wanted to choose adoption, because of their commitment to allowing women to make their own educated decisions about their own reproductive health and providing them the care to do it.

I think that many people confuse - or deliberately conflate - the efforts of Planned Parenthood to promote political decisions that protect women's access to safe birth control and abortion, with an agenda to promote abortions to each and every woman who crosses the doorstep of a clinic. Promoting the continued legal access to a safe abortion and safe birth control for those women who choose them, is not the same thing as coercing every women to use birth control or have an abortion.

I also know that there are people who doubt that women can be trusted to know their own hearts and lives well-enough to make such a decision. Many believe that their opinions should be the basis of other women's decisions about reproduction. All I can say is that I trust women to know their own hearts, lives, and God(esse)s better than I ever could, and that I believe that they are capable of deciding to bear children, or not, without my input.

The support I received for my own educated decisions from Planned Parenthood has been crucial in my life. I have never been - nor have I ever wanted to be - pregnant, and I thank Planned Parenthood for their help in making my life reflect my desire. My work and studies have taken me to environments that would have been impossible had I been pregnant, and I am grateful to Planned Parenthood for helping me to the freedom to do those things. I have been miserable in bed with with fever and illness, and appreciate the care I received from Planned Parenthood that helped me get back on my feet. And I am grateful that even though I was young and married and by everyone else's judgment in a position where it wouldn't have been a "big deal" to have an unplanned pregnancy, the staff at Planned Parenthood took the time to listen to me about what I wanted for my own life, and help me achieve it.

I wish every young woman had that kind of support and professional care. And that's why I hope that Planned Parenthood decides to open a clinic in our town.

Posted by binky at September 13, 2005 03:04 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Gender and Politics