[Warning: contains politics. Apologies in advance.]
[I would appreciate you not trying to convince me of your point of view in the comments, though obviously I will never censor opposition if it's family-friendly content. I haven't preached my beliefs in this post, only explained how I come by one of them. If you want to explain your side of the matter, go ahead! I'd love to hear what you think! Just please don't try to convert me, because that always leads to fighting.]
[I would appreciate you not trying to convince me of your point of view in the comments, though obviously I will never censor opposition if it's family-friendly content. I haven't preached my beliefs in this post, only explained how I come by one of them. If you want to explain your side of the matter, go ahead! I'd love to hear what you think! Just please don't try to convert me, because that always leads to fighting.]
So the other day I was polled by a very nice-looking young lady who looked extremely professional outside my school. I was asked the million-dollar question: do I stand with Planned Parenthood, or not.
I responded honestly: I don't.
I was overheard by another woman (if we know one thing about Corbyjane, we know she is not very quiet. Or subtle), and called a woman-hater.
I came home to check my twitter and saw numerous tweets vilifying anyone supporting PP's defunding. Not very long ago I ended a friendship with a hitherto entertaining acquaintance because she made repeated similar statements. When i told her I found them offensive, she told me where to go. So I unfollowed her. It made me sad.
Because...
I hate women.
I want to impose my religion on the rest of the country.
I respect a tiny zygote more than a "real" human being.
I am setting up unwanted children for abuse later.
I am not going to defend my beliefs. It's a pretty black or white worldview--either you believe that every tiny inch of that fertilised egg is a human being with a soul, and ending that human being's life is... well, ending a life--or you don't. You think that it's not a person until it's outside the womb... well then fine, it isn't. It's one or the other.
This isn't about making you agree with me. That's stupid. I don't know enough about some things--because I'm dumb in general, not because I haven't tried to educate myself--and a lot of you can--and have--stumped me.
Because I can see the other side of this issue. I can see the other side of a lot of issues, which is either because of or the reason why I am blessed with a lot of friends that hold astronomically different points of view. I know "I love [something] people! my best friend is [something]!" is cliche, but seriously, it's a wonderful, awesome thing to have friends who disagree with you...and love you anyway!
Because of my friends, I see the side that wants aid there for women who need birth control, who are scared and don't know where to go, who need mammograms, who don't have health insurance, who need information on what to do next, and who are considering abortion because of horrific reasons like rape or incest.
This is about helping you see my side... and the side of the people who want PP to be defunded. Because if you can see my side, you can't call me a woman-hating *****, right? Or tell the internet that you would like the slit the throat of the people who disagree with you, right? Just like I don't call you babykillers or murderers, because I see your side of it, too. If we see each other's sides, in theory there will be less throwing things, both metaphorical and physical.
Operating from the viewpoint that abortion kills a person.... pretty much all the arguments made by Pro-Planned Parenthood are invalid.
It doesn't matter that less than 1% of PP funding goes to abortion. That 1% kills people. Like, ends lives.
And it doesn't matter that PP does other things--amazing, awesome things--for women and men alike. They also kill people.
It doesn't matter that "only" 300,000 abortions were performed in a year. (I don't remember which year, and I don't want to put the wrong one, but I think 2006.) That's 300,000 people who DIED. 300,000 people who could have been crying and needing their diapers changed and growing up right now aren't here because of Planned Parenthood (and my tax money). In one year.
It doesn't matter that, given no legal way to kill 300,000 people, women will resort to nasty, disgusting methods to kill 300,000 people. They shouldn't be allowed to do that in the first place. (I will say I believe that there should be legal allowance for instances where the mother's life is in danger.)
It's not about religion--God doesn't actually factor into my thinking of a fertilised egg as a human being at all--it's about 300,000 people dying.
It's not about imposing my values on the rest of the United States--if you witnessed my near breakdown trying to decide whether to vote with my personal convictions or the feeling that really the US should be allowed to do whatever it wants way back during Prop 8, you KNOW I am not an impose-my-values kind of gal. To a potentially harmful fault.
If I think that people are dying--whether in fact they are people is debatable, but assuming I think they're dying--wouldn't you think I was a pretty awful person for not doing anything about it? Or rooting against people doing something about it? Because in actuality, I can't do anything about it. I can vote for Republican pro-life people--and when given a choice between two pro-choice governors I can hide out and pretend I'm busy on Election Day because trying to figure out which way to go makes me nauseous--and I can show up to protests and I can wear the red LIFE tape proudly--but there is not one thing I can personally do to stop abortion.
So if there's a chance that less people will die, heck yes I am going to support the defunding of Planned Parenthood. And I don't think that given the obnoxiously detailed explanation of my thought-process, you should find this surprising.
Please don't hate me because it makes me cry.
I'm curious: Would you feel the same way about providing funding for hospitals or doctor's offices that provided abortions in addition to other routing health services? Are your views toward PP exacerbated by the fact that they almost solely deal with fertility and reproduction issues?
ReplyDeleteI would have to say... I think (I can't really be sure til put in that situation) I'd feel the same. =/ UNLESS they were only performing abortions in the instances where the mother's life was in danger.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what other good stuff someone is doing, if they are causing the death of someone's life I don't think they should be funded by the government.
Government issue. Got it. (That was the whole stink about stem-cell research. Most conservatives didn't like the government-funded fetus experimentation, and thought that if one wanted to go beyond adult stem-cell stuff, they could do it on their own money.)
ReplyDeleteSo you're also against abortion in cases of rape-induced pregnancies?
Yeah, exactly... I'm okay--well, not okay, but you know, that is our current legal state--with Roe vs Wade. But I think it's a giant slap in the face to make me pay for it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a hard situation, and not one any woman should ever have to be put in. But I think that aborting a child is perpetuating the crime. You were just violated--why on earth would you want to take that out on an innocent child?
As I've said, the only instances I see abortion being a possibility are ones where the mother and/or child's life is endangered, such as ectopic pregnancies.
What about you? What's your stance on all this?
PS: I hate that I'm stereotypical fundie about this. I don't hate my opinions, but it feels hypocritical to go from mocking/teasing them to falling right in line. At least I'm not abusive name-calling fundie on all this, right? >.<
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was raised to believe an abortion was the most reprehensible thing possible except for rape victims or endangered mothers. I never could understand then why anyone but the most ignorant of women would want to kill her child, and though now I can, I hope that I and everyone I know would have the strength to keep the child no matter the circumstances, including rape. But I can see the different struggles.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm conflicted about Planned Parenthood. In some cases the liberality of the services it dispenses seems slightly irresponsible, kind of like welfare, but I never realized how many gynecological services, for instance, that they provide for women who can't afford insurance. (And I'm starting to doubt the actual frequency of the horror stories I read in Christian magazines about how women are hounded to abort even if they don't want to, though I'm sure it has happened on many occasions.)
As to Title X itself, I've been doing some research over the weekend. Check out http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.html - the fourth paragraph. If I'm not mistaken, it's illegal to use the Title X funds that are received to directly fund abortions. So Planned Parenthood would have to use their own money to pay for them.
Plus, PP is only one of thousands of organizations that are affected by Title X. So I think it's taking a lot out of context to try to make it all about PP. It affects the little local Catholic clinics too.
What's your reaction to the information in the link?
Re: Title X: I know I've seen research showing PP was skating around this somehow, HOWEVER it was from two sources--Bound4Life (which, as much as I support and love the organisation, is EXTREMELY biased) and on the opposite end of the spectrum, an ultrafeminist group of the "all hetero sex is rape; no more children" thinking. So I'm willing to concede these weren't terribly accurate studies. (I am still of the opinion that any institution providing abortions shouldn't be funded by the government, so my feelings towards PP are unchanged, but it makes me feel better that then I'm not directly paying to end lives. However, even if the money from the government itself isn't paying for abortions, by virtue of paying for other things at PP, it's freeing up PP to pay for the abortions out of their own money; if that makes sense?)
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware that other clinics were also going to lose funding--I thought religious organisations couldn't be funded? At least this is what I was told while working in a church youth group. I think it's unfortunate that that wasn't publicised along with the "defund PP! oh noes!" stuff, because I would have thought a little harder before being vocal about supporting the movement. (Do you have additional info on that, btw?)
This note was more to explain why I don't support abortion (or rather, why holding the view I have of life beginning at conception would cause me to be anti-choice), so I think the feelings voiced in the post are unchanged (I still think PP being defunded would be great and awesomesauce) BUT I do think that if smaller clinics who don't provide abortion are also going to be affected maybe this isn't the best way to go about it. Does that make sense?
PS: I agree that it's highly unlikely that PP pushes abortion on everyone who comes in; personal testimony (from good friends, not just The Internet) alone proves that. I think it's rare but I do know it happens (through additional testimony from friends), and I also think that it is prolly just as likely to happen wherever a pregnant woman goes (GP, free clinic, PP, etc), so even I personally don't think PP constantly pushing people to have abortions.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally get what you mean about how the organization's money will pay for abortions, no matter how they got their funding. The more money they have in their budget, period, the more can be designated to any one area.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if specifically religious organizations would be funded because Title X is more for health care clinics, but if a church runs a legitimate health care clinic, then yes, it'll probably qualify. But it doesn't mean that any religious organization that doesn't deal with the right kind of health care can get the funds for it. Take a look at the original link in my last post - the third paragraph.
"Title X grantees provided family planning services to approximately five million women and men through a network of more than 4,500 community-based clinics that include State and local health departments, tribal organizations, hospitals, university health centers, independent clinics, community health centers, faith-based organizations, and other public and private nonprofit agencies."
Here are some links to descriptions of requirements for clinics that want access to the grants. http://www.cfhc.org/Resources/SamplesFile/title-x-clinic-requirements.html
I doubt you'd want to comb through all of them, but near as I can tell there is no religious distinction in Title X grantees. Also, here's a search engine that returns clinics that are funded by Title X.
http://www.opaclearinghouse.org/search/
There are over 300 results in California alone.
(Sidebar: Title X provides three main things - family planning services, which includes things like contraception, adolescent abstinence counseling and other education, health services like STD testing and cancer screening. and infertility assistance; training for clinic workers; and research for things like contraceptives and actual program implementation.
http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/grantees/index.html
"By law, Title X funds may not be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning." http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.html)
Health clinics that can prove they reasonably provide these services, especially to low-income segments of the population, can be funded through Title X. As you can see, most of the services are typical to a health clinic, and Planned Parenthood qualifies for the money just as well as a smaller clinic would. It's unfortunate that the debate became so centered on PP, and even more unfortunate that misguided students help to continue the confusion by making their student polls solely about Planned Parenthood.
So really, I understand and respect your extreme distaste for abortion as murder of innocents. I hold similar beliefs. So living in a world after Roe v. Wade is necessarily complicated. Health clinics and doctor's offices will continue to supply medical procedures that nowhere else safely can, including the now-legal abortions. There will always be a market for what people are willing to pay for (or in lots of cases, have others pay for).
What shouldn't be complicated is what you pay for with your tax dollars. But due to the way the debates were presented out of context, I think our attention was focused on the wrong things, particularly since it is less expensive and in medical establishments' best interests to encourage contraception and awareness of sexual issues instead of complicated and irresponsible abortions after the fact.
In conclusion, my general thoughts: abortion is heart-wrenching, Title X can't fund something as non-preventative as an abortion, Title X was misrepresented as being in PP's pocket, and supporting defunding of Planned Parenthood as an abortion-providing/referring organization might not be the best way to save the most lives.
*whew*
I remembered what it was! A religious organisation getting funding couldn't state political opinions.
ReplyDeleteIn light of your information, I do agree with you quite a lot. I continue to support PP being defunded (for the "it still pays for it" thing), but I recognise that in its current state the defunding would hurt more than it helped.
Thanks for your comments, Salli. :) I really appreciate it when people listen and respond.