Planned Parenthood was there for me

About 12 years ago I walked into a Planned Parenthood in Chicago. I was scarred and slightly annoyed.

I was told that only whores go to Planned Parenthood. Except now I was going.

Maybe I was a whore.

I was told that if you were responsible enough to have sex, you should have been responsible enough to take care of a child.

What horseshit.

I was visiting my then-boyfriend at Loyola University.  So, of course, I was staying with him in his dorm room.

The condom broke.

We were both scared. We were 18. Both of us freshmen at our universities. He, in Chicago and I was in NOLA. We had dated throughout high school. This was to be our 'goodbye' trip. I came up to see him once more before we both moved on with our lives. There was no way either of us wanted a pregnancy.

He found a PP location online and off we went. I was scared that there would be protesters screaming at me. I had heard of them being there. I was taught growing up in the church that they were there to protect the unborn babies. They were the ones doing God's work in the trenches.

There was no one. Thank goodness.

We walked into the clinic, filled out some forms, and were quickly taken into an exam room. The doctor who saw me was very helpful and understanding. She asked me questions that I had never been asked before. Allowed me to ask as many questions as I needed. Even my boyfriend had some questions, which she happily answered. She explained basic biology to me that I had never heard before. She wrote me a prescription for Plan B.

And that was it.

I went to a local pharmacy and filled the prescription. No problems whatsoever.

I'm not sure if I would have actually become pregnant or not. But, because of Planned Parenthood, I didn't have to worry about it. So many women don't have to worry about it.

Women and men alike go there for contraceptives, STD checks, education, screenings, assault and rape help, and so much more. And, yes, abortions. 3% of what PP does is abortion services.

In my home state of Louisiana there are currently two PP clinics. Neither of which perform abortions. Another location is under construction in NOLA. It was recently firebombed. Yay for religious nuts!

Governor Jindal is trying his damnest to cut Medicaid funding to PP just so he can stop abortions from happening in his state. Will he also try to cut Medicaid funding to other clinics for some other unpopular reason? I'm sure this is all about 'women's health' and not his presidential campaign. Of course...

Abortions are not popular with certain groups of people but it is legal. And, it's legal for a reason. It's legal to protect women from back-alley abortions with unsanitary tools. It's legal to stop survivors of rape and incest from being continually victimized by being forced to carry an unwanted child. It's legal so that a woman who needs a life saving procedure can do so without being sent to prison.

It's legal because it's my fucking body and I have a right to it.

Corpses have a right to their body parts. No one argues this. I can write in my will that even though there are desperate and dying children who could use my healthy organs, they can go fuck themselves because I'm going to rot in this coffin intact. No one would say a word. In fact, many 'pro-lifers' would fight to the death my right to be able to do that.

But, while alive, I better not get pregnant and try to abort. My body is nothing but a vessel for this little bundle of cells. Once it's born, no one will give a shit about it.

Am I saying that I really want to go out and get pregnant just so I can get an abortion? Of course not! No one WANTS to get an abortion. No one is running around screaming, "YIPPEE! I get to have an abortion today!" That's absurd.

But, please, let's all de-fund an organization that is trying to prevent abortions in the first place. Let's de-fund a group of dedicated doctors and nurses who are trying desperately, with limited resources, to keep poor families' heads afloat. Let's pretend that abstinence only education is actually working.

The more you prevent the less panic we will have in the future. I really wish more people would look past the veil of their religion and see the actual culture. We need Planned Parenthood. Our people cannot afford our expensive medical system. We cannot afford more children on the welfare system. We cannot afford to pretend there isn't a problem.

You want less abortions? Try allowing us to actually prevent pregnancies.