The importance of Planned Parenthood
Feb. 16th, 2012 11:25 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
giandujakissAs I've posted before, ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandom_helps is currently running a fan charity auction to benefit Planned Parenthood.
Before the auction began, the mod received some requests from non-U.S. residents that they be permitted to donate to women's health/family planning organizations in their own countries instead of Planned Parenthood. The mod ultimately decided that this auction would be run for Planned Parenthood exclusively (although future auctions may be held that have a more international scope).
I don't pretend to know what sort of access women have to reproductive health care in countries other than the U.S., but particularly for those of you reading this who are not aware of the U.S. situation, I wanted to post about the importance of Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood provides reproductive healthcare for women at low cost, including, but not limited to, birth control and abortion services.
Although women nominally have the right to an abortion in the U.S., in reality, there is strong opposition to women exercising that right and the states are constantly passing new restrictions to make it harder for women to obtain abortions. In many areas of the country, women may have to travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion -- and yet on top of that, states attempt to make abortions impossible as a practical matter by mandating that "waiting periods" from the time that a woman firsts visits a clinic until the time when she can receive the procedure (ostensibly so she can truly think it over, like she needs that kind of requirement from the state, but in reality, so that women who find it difficult to travel and stay overnight will not have abortion access). In many parts of the country, Planned Parenthood may provide the only facility that performs abortions.
States also enact numerous requirements of "informed consent" that are in fact additional ways to pressure women to forego abortions. For example, Virginia is apparently about to pass a new law that requires the doctor to determine the "gestational age" of the fetus and for the patient to listen to the fetal heartbeat before the abortion may be performed -- but to do that, in many cases, the doctor will have to perform an entirely unnecessary (from a medical standpoint) procedure that involves inserting a probe in the woman's vagina. In some states, burdensome regulations have been used to try to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics. Planned Parenthood is at the forefront of efforts to combat these regulations.
Recently, the right wing has also decided to go all in on the fight to deny women access to birth control. This battle began with religious employers - like Catholic organizations that run hospitals or universities - denouncing a requirement in Obama's healthcare law requiring them to provide birth control coverage as part of their employees' health plans. Obama then changed the requirement so that insurers must provide birth control coverage directly to the insureds free of charge, but religiously-affiliated employers do not have to pay for such coverage. This has not satisfied Republicans, who are trying to introduce a new law that would allow any employer to refuse to provide any healthcare service they find morally objectionable. Rick Santorum - now, shockingly, a major contender for the GOP nomination - has publicly declared his opposition to birth control and his support for state laws that restrict access (which now are unconstitutional, but in the future, who knows).
Once again, Planned Parenthood is at the forefront of efforts to combat this new attack on contraception. In fact, there is a whole tumblr devoted to the stories of women who turned to Planned Parenthood for often-life-saving reproductive healthcare that they could not get elsewhere.
Point being, Planned Parenthood is of critical importance to women's healthcare in the U.S., which is why I hope you'll consider bidding atfandom_helps.
fandom_helps is currently running a fan charity auction to benefit Planned Parenthood.Before the auction began, the mod received some requests from non-U.S. residents that they be permitted to donate to women's health/family planning organizations in their own countries instead of Planned Parenthood. The mod ultimately decided that this auction would be run for Planned Parenthood exclusively (although future auctions may be held that have a more international scope).
I don't pretend to know what sort of access women have to reproductive health care in countries other than the U.S., but particularly for those of you reading this who are not aware of the U.S. situation, I wanted to post about the importance of Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood provides reproductive healthcare for women at low cost, including, but not limited to, birth control and abortion services.
Although women nominally have the right to an abortion in the U.S., in reality, there is strong opposition to women exercising that right and the states are constantly passing new restrictions to make it harder for women to obtain abortions. In many areas of the country, women may have to travel hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion -- and yet on top of that, states attempt to make abortions impossible as a practical matter by mandating that "waiting periods" from the time that a woman firsts visits a clinic until the time when she can receive the procedure (ostensibly so she can truly think it over, like she needs that kind of requirement from the state, but in reality, so that women who find it difficult to travel and stay overnight will not have abortion access). In many parts of the country, Planned Parenthood may provide the only facility that performs abortions.
States also enact numerous requirements of "informed consent" that are in fact additional ways to pressure women to forego abortions. For example, Virginia is apparently about to pass a new law that requires the doctor to determine the "gestational age" of the fetus and for the patient to listen to the fetal heartbeat before the abortion may be performed -- but to do that, in many cases, the doctor will have to perform an entirely unnecessary (from a medical standpoint) procedure that involves inserting a probe in the woman's vagina. In some states, burdensome regulations have been used to try to shut down Planned Parenthood clinics. Planned Parenthood is at the forefront of efforts to combat these regulations.
Recently, the right wing has also decided to go all in on the fight to deny women access to birth control. This battle began with religious employers - like Catholic organizations that run hospitals or universities - denouncing a requirement in Obama's healthcare law requiring them to provide birth control coverage as part of their employees' health plans. Obama then changed the requirement so that insurers must provide birth control coverage directly to the insureds free of charge, but religiously-affiliated employers do not have to pay for such coverage. This has not satisfied Republicans, who are trying to introduce a new law that would allow any employer to refuse to provide any healthcare service they find morally objectionable. Rick Santorum - now, shockingly, a major contender for the GOP nomination - has publicly declared his opposition to birth control and his support for state laws that restrict access (which now are unconstitutional, but in the future, who knows).
Once again, Planned Parenthood is at the forefront of efforts to combat this new attack on contraception. In fact, there is a whole tumblr devoted to the stories of women who turned to Planned Parenthood for often-life-saving reproductive healthcare that they could not get elsewhere.
Point being, Planned Parenthood is of critical importance to women's healthcare in the U.S., which is why I hope you'll consider bidding at
fandom_helps.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-16 08:22 pm (UTC)http://motherjones.com/politics/200
It's a very harsh story, though.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-17 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-17 08:31 am (UTC)The article I linked, though... forces people to re-evaluate, I think. It presents well-instutionalised abortion as the lesser evil, not as inherently morally "better" than being against abortion. It stresses the hard truth that pro-abortion people are not just using empty phrases when they talk about saving women's lives.