PLEASE NOTE: I did not compose the following letter. I cut and pasted a letter written by a Planned Parenthood supporter ("I Stand With Planned Parenthood") and changed some key words and phrases. All words changed or added are in CAPS (with the exception of the final "ME").
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This is for all the anti-LIFE anti-UNBORN people out there.
Listen up.
You can spend every minute of every day trying to force the rest of us to live by your ideology. You can go after federal funds for PLANNED PARENTHOOD and pressure private organizations like the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation to CONTINUE FUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD. You can try to make it CHILD'S PLAY to get birth control.
But you know what you can't do? You can't win. You can't break us. THE RIGHT TO LIFE isn't just a family of organizations. It's a movement. It's women and men of all ages who believe that LIFE — including THE LIVES OF THE UNBORN — is a basic human right. We are millions strong. We are everywhere. We act, we give, and we do whatever it takes to make sure that LIFE is there for the women, men, and teens who rely on IT.
Know this: When you go after THE UNBORN and the people THAT serve THEM, you go after ME. I stand with THE UNBORN. I stand with them against anyone who wants to stop THEM FROM RECEIVING LIFE. I stand with them today, tomorrow, and for as long as I need to.
--Carilyn Flynn
Cari, I love you to death, but this line of thinking frustrates me. That was money for mammograms for poor women. What other resources do many of these women have? If you want abortions to cease, you have to provide education and birth control (ideally for both men and women). Until we have universal health care in this country (whether private or public), we are going to have a huge gap in health care for poor women.
ReplyDeleteA link for more info: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/what-planned-parenthood-actually-does/2011/04/06/AFhBPa2C_blog.html
Our country has yet to provide adequate support for women and the babies they were not planning to have. Until then, what choices do they feel they have? What if a woman is raped? What if she is underage? What if she has different plans her her future? What if her life is endangered?
It's frustrating for me to see blanket anti-abortion statements. No one likes abortion. Really. But it's only recently that it was even an issue. It used to be that until "quickening" occurred, it was totally fine to "restore the menses."
I do stand with Planned Parenthood. I went to a similar place when I was in college to receive gynecological advice. Why not go to my family doctor? Because I was horrified to think about my religious family knowing anything about me going. Let me state that I was not sexually active. My (strictly religious) family was a perceived barrier to receiving care for my health needs, and with my limited income, a place with a sliding scale was the only place I could afford.
This sort of vitriol stops people who believe differently from you from working with you. We both agree that abortions need to be prevented, you because you it kills a human life (not putting words in your mouth so let me know if you disagree), and me because it hurts women because we've demonized and shamed and belittled them into thinking they can't make choices for themselves.
We need to focus on finding ways to prevent abortion. Education. Outreach. Support for women who did not expect to get pregnant. Groups that don't cast out their own for activities they deem unsavory. We need to love women, even if we don't agree with their choices.
Let me reiterate after this screed that I absolutely do love you and think you are the bee's knees. I don't expect that I'll change your mind either; honestly, I don't need to. I just need to express that there are reasonable people out there with very different opinions.
<3
Jaimee,
DeleteThank you so much for your comment! I especially appreciated your statement, "This sort of vitriol stops people who believe differently from you from working with you." That was exactly my point. I don't know if you read the letter I referenced written by a Planned Parenthood supporter--my blog post was taken verbatim from this supporter's letter except for the changes I made above IN CAPS (perhaps I should have made that clearer). While I agree with you that breast cancer screenings for the poor and other health care supports are important (including preventing pregnancy so that we can prevent abortion), I was trying to make the precise point you made. The rhetoric in this debate (is there ANYONE--REALLY--who is ANTI-WOMEN or ANTI-LIFE?!?) isn't helpful and after all, words are not very constructive. That's why I belong to a church that doesn't just talk the talk (a pro-life message), they walk the walk (and help support women who choose to have their babies).
Thank you for being brave enough to disagree with me and for doing it in such a respectful and honorable way. This kind of dialogue helps all of us because it is done in love and in the pursuit of truth.
Thank you. xo
I thought the Susan G. Komen Foundation pulled their funding from Planned Parenthood because it turns out PP *doesn't* actually offer mammograms?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq0kBkUZbvQ&feature=player_embedded#!
& This article elaborates on the relationship between the 2 organizations:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/after-lying-about-providing-mammograms-planned-parenthood-outraged-breast-cancer-charity-cuts-grants_620875.html?page=1