Women's Health and the 2012 election: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgzDVKYCYfA&feature=relmfu
So since this is a women's studies class, and reproductive health care is a hot-button topic this election, I need to vent about this a little.
I'm not trying to tell people which way to vote or sway anyone's opinions. I don't care if you are pro-life or pro-choice, the fact is that defunding an organization such as Planned Parenthood will have horrible consequences in terms of people's reproducitve health care. Some individuals hate PP because they are a pro-choice organization. I can't change anyone's minds on that issue (even though I personally think women should have the choice, especially in cases of rape or extreme danger to the mother) but I can share some statistics that I wish people knew before threatening to shut down such an amazing organization.
Only 3% of PP's efforts go to abortion, and most of the time the services aren't even performed at their clinics but are outsourced to other health facilities. And federal funding does NOT go to pay for those services, women pay out of pocket. (Due to something called the Hyde Ammendment) The other 97% of what PP does includes routine physical exams, cancer screenings, pap smears, STD testing and treatment, birth control services, relationship and marraige couseling, teen preganancy counseling (which shows women ALL their options), rape counseling, education in schools, resources for gay/lesbian/questioning youth, and much more. Without these services we will most definitly see a huge increase in unplanned pregnancies and, guess what, more people seeking abortions. In that case, defunding PP would be pretty counter-productive. And overturning Roe v. Wade would be a ridiculous idea becasue that would not take away some people's desire to have an abortion, it would only take away the legal and safe options in doing so. Do we want to see women getting them performed by back-alley doctors again and dying of infection? Doubt it.
Sometimes I wish we could just keep the politics out of the bedroom and off of our bodies, and leave these personal choices to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment