draggonlaady: (Default)
draggonlaady ([personal profile] draggonlaady) wrote2011-02-20 07:12 pm

Planned Parenthood

For those of you who already got this in your email, sorry for the duplication.

Hey everybody. I don't mass-mail very often, and even less about political stuff, but this is something I actually give a rip about. I don't know how many of you have used Planned Parenthood in the past, but they were my primary source of medical care for years during college. (And that's a lot of years!) This bill is absolute trash, and I'm disgusted that the House passed it.
I sign "open letters" and petitions about as often as I email you all political stuff, but for whatever good it'll do, I signed this one.
The people behind this farce claim it's supposed to be targeted at abortions, but that's crap. So whatever your feelings on abortion, please take a minute to ponder your feelings on cervical cancer, breast cancer, base-line health care, read the following and consider clicking the link at the end to sign the letter:

By law, federal funds haven’t paid for abortions since the 1970s, so the House hasn’t voted to cut abortion funding. They’re cutting funding for the entire Title X program — funding for contraception, cancer screening, STI tests, sex education, mammograms, HIV testing and diagnosis, and pregnancy screening and counseling. Title X is the only federal program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and preventive health services, particularly low-income families. Last year, 5 million people benefited from the services funded by Title X.

Planned Parenthood is the target of this legislation, and American women the primary victims. This isn’t about abortion — it’s about cutting access to health care for women. One in five American women has used Planned Parenthood’s services. The vast majority of care — more than 90% — offered at Planned Parenthood health centers is preventative. Every year, Planned Parenthood carries out nearly one million screenings for cervical cancer — screenings which save lives. Every year, Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses give more than 830,000 breast exams — exams which save lives. Every year, nearly 2.5 million patients receive contraception from Planned Parenthood — a service which prevents enormous numbers of unintended pregnancies and, by extension, an enormous number of abortions. Every year, Planned Parenthood administers nearly 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV — tests and treatments which save lives, extend lives, preserve fertility, and maintain reproductive health.


https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_ws_I_Stand_with_PP&s_src=istandwithPP_home

[identity profile] draggonlaady.livejournal.com 2011-02-21 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, there are laws on the books stating that a doctor or nurse with "moral reservations" about it doesn't have to perform the procedure at all. Tangential to this bill, though, as this ganks funding from non-abortion programs, and can be expected to eff-up all those low-cost pap smears and cervical exams that Planned Parenthood offers, and that even "good chaste Christian women" should be getting, as they are recommended for all women, sexually active or not. And that's the bulk of what PP offers; abortion services are (depending on source) less than 5% or less than 3% of what PP does...so what the fine, upstanding Reps are really doing with this bill is pulling the carpet out from under the major source of preventative care for low-income women across the nation. Really classy, yeah?

[identity profile] jacksontwobears.livejournal.com 2011-02-21 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Why become a doctor, apply to a place like Planned Parenthood, go through all the motions, and then say, "Nah, I don't feel that it's right."?

Seems an awful waste of time, money, and energy to me.

And I agree that this bill pulls the carpet out from people like you and me.
Sensible women who just want to make sure their bodies are in good health.

[identity profile] draggonlaady.livejournal.com 2011-02-21 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the people who would be taking advantage of that loophole probably don't work at PP. However, the only hospitals anywhere near me are all Catholic run, so it's damn near impossible to get a tubal ligation, etc unless I go to Spokane (50 miles) and hit PP there, because all the major hospitals in Spokane are ALSO Catholic. Yay.