I hardly ever wander into GD. I did today because it was 8 in the morning, I haven’t slept, and was a little bored. I happened upon a thread about abortion and read this post. I just want to say: Anaamika, I appreciate you writing what you did in that discussion.
I can hardly comprehend what goes on in situations when abortion is considered, but I have always supported people’s right to choose. Also, I didn’t know exactly what planned parenthood did until I was older. Since then I have played music at many fundraisers for a campus group that donates the money to planned parenthood, and had people protest my shows in the same town later because I had been involved.
I just want to say thank you for making it obvious in your post that planned parenthood was a decent organization, not just a place that forces people into decisions.
I hadn’t read Anaamika’s post, but I just did, and I have to add my support of Planned Parenthood. I’ve never had an abortion, and that’s probably because of Planned Parenthood. When I was in high school, they provided safe, cheap, and private birth control counseling and medical examinations. No questions were asked. No fees were charged. There were big bowls of condoms that you could come in and take a handful of, no questions asked, and nobody would even look at you.
The advice they gave was always objective, and they never tried to push people in one direction or another (other than “please use birth control if you’re sexually active. Here, have a condom.”)
I get upset when I see PP portrayed in the media as some sort of abortion factory. They absolutely don’t push girls into abortions, though they will provide them if the girl decides. They are one of the Very Good Guys IMO.
One loud and proud “ditto” here. I also hate how unjustly Planned Parenthood is portryed in the media. They are one of the good guys, providing safe, compassionate help and most importantly, unbiased information.
One loud and proud “ditto” here. I also hate how unjustly Planned Parenthood is portryed in the media. They are one of the good guys, providing safe, compassionate help and most importantly, unbiased information.
Yes! I remember when my mother would volunteer for PP in the 1970’s. She would simply help young women of modest means educate themselves about their own anatomy. That’s the gist of PP. Anyone attempting to demonize them just doesn’t know the facts.
They are one of three charitable organizations in my will.
I used Planned Parenthood for years, well beyond my teens! They were really nice people and very well-qualified health care professionals. I only switched to a private OB/GYN when I had a serious medical concern that PP felt I should see a specialist for.
By the way- in my neck of the woods, PP didn’t even do abortions! They would refer to other providers. So I always thought it was stupid for the anti-abortionists around here to hate PP…
I remember one of the PP clinics I visited had a basket on the coffee table in the lobby, filled with condoms. The clinic was very close to a high school, and every single time I was waiting for my appointment, at least a couple of HS kids would slink in the door, dart over to the table, grab a handful of condoms, then run out!
Planned Parenthood also provides excellent, affordable gynecologic care for their patients. I’ve been there half a dozen times for PAP smears and pelvics and they’ve always been prompt, professional and very gentle. (I started going there *after *I “fired” my private care OB/Gyn for manhandling me without medication or proper patient education during those procedures I shared in the “Worst Thing That Happened To Your Genitals” thread. They didn’t do that.)
I’ve never needed their pregnancy counseling or abortion services, and it annoys me when people paint them as abortion factories, because it seems that that’s a small part of what they provide, even though it’s the most well-known.
So, again, thank you Anaamika, for sharing your experiences AND for raising awareness of the good, noncontroversial things PP does.
Why, thank you! I do hope it helped some girls out there that are too ashamed to ask. It’s not that I like to bandy it about, exactly, but I do feel it a moral obligation to share my experiences, as I said.
Thank you for this thread. It’s nice to know someone appreciated it.
I worked at PP in South San Jose about 15 years ago. The women who came in did not just come for abortions. It’s a poor area, and medical care was expensive in the Bay Area even then. Most area physicians didn’t take Medi-Cal (the state Medicaid program), so it was difficult for them to find good OB/GYN care. The branch I worked at was clean, well lit, and we took as much time as possible with each patient, regardless of her reason for being there. The doctors were courteous and sympathetic, and they made sure the patients understood everything.
It really frosts my ass that PP is constantly put forth as a “butcher shop.” That’s not what they’re about at all.
As some of you may remember, I attended a Chrisatian high school. The principal proposed a “field trip” one year to protest our local “abortion clinic”-- a Planned Parenthood center on Main Street.
I waited until after class and spoke to her privately. “The local Planned Parenthood center doesn’t offer abortions,” I told her. “All they do is dispense bith control.”
The next day, she lectured on how the words “Planned Parenthood” were false advertising. “It sounds so innocuous, doesn’t it, kids? It sounds like a place where you go to plan to have a baby. But that’s not true! They tell you where to go to kill your baby!”
I raised my hand. “The local Planned Parenthood clinic doesn’t offer abortion referrals.”
“Yes, they do!” she snapped. “They’re the chiefs of the abortion industry, making millions off of convincing young women to kill their babies.”
“Uhm, I actually spoke to some people at the clinic,” I said.
“They* lied*!”
She didn’t want to hear the truth. The planned protest never happened, but within a few weeks, she was back to telling the kids about the local “abortion mill”.
Ah, the classic “Dr. McCoy” argument - stating that an abortion is an option is the equivalent of holding young girls down and ripping their babies from their bodies.
Good job, Anaamika. You have contributed to the ignorance fighting.
I only stopped getting my gyn stuff done at Planned Parenthood when I moved to a place that didn’t have one. Now that it looks like I’m moving again and there’s at least one in the area, I expect I’ll probably start going there again, at least for the routine stuff.
It seems that a lot of what they do is trying to make the abortions unnecessary, which flies over the anti’s heads. I may be quite pro-choice but I am all for keeping an unwanted pregnancy (especially if it was mine, YIKES!) from happening in the first place. It’s a lot easier on everybody all around.
I don’t understand the demonization, really I don’t. They want women to be educated about their bodies. I can’t see how that is a bad thing!
I love Planned Parenthood. Went there for the morning after pill when a condom broke and I had just started taking birth control. It let my Catholic friends in college get birth control without their parents knowing. My guy friends go there for STD tests and gladly take their condoms. They are a great resource and more people should take advantage of their great care.
According to this PP does provide “abortion services” – which does not necessarily mean they perform abortions, or even provide abortion referrals, at every PP facility; or maybe the article is just wrong.
I want to add my thanks to Anaamika for the straight forward way in which you related your story. Well done!
You’ve contributed so much to this board. I know that you didn’t like Nashville at all, but I wish I had known you when you were here. Did you know Shubha? (I’m always misspelling her name.) I am not far from her place. We once had great plans to travel to India together!
Well, let me not let that impression stand like that! Nashville was very racist, I’m afraid - but only when we lived there. When we visited, they were the nicest, most kind people. It could have just been where we moved, perhaps. Does it tend to be more multicultural now?
It’s unfortunate that that was my experience, I’ll admit. But I also wish I’d known you! And Shubha? I’ve known a few people named Shubha, but it was a long time ago so I scarcely remember.
I can’t recall ever having seen a condemnatory or even unsympathetic portrayal of PP in the media. What are you referring to?