Today is #PinkOut day where sincerely open-minded people of this great land are exclaiming, proudly, that they #StandWithPP by participating in this celebration of freedom of choice, access to affordable health care for men and women (and free health care if the need exists), the many hundreds of thousands of lives that Planned Parenthood has saved, the amazing educational outreach that Planned parenthood provides, the Peer Education program that is the very best of what our young people can and are doing to make sure that real information about STDs, pregnancy prevention and honest & sincere counseling happens, and most importantly, the fact that Planned Parenthood, in spite of the Neanderthals who continue to perpetuate the myth that Planned Parenthood is an immoral, Satanic organization that uses your and my tax dollars to preform abortions – they DO NOT AND CANNOT – has done more to prevent disease, unwanted pregnancies, and peace of mind (remember that?)!
The goal with this writing is not to change a single mind, because we know that this is not a grey area for most people, right? But, with that said, I will provide some simple and traceable facts for those who are willing to think before they hate and understand what it is they stand against based on the facts I am providing. I challenge any of you to fact check me; in fact I am begging you to do it.
Planned Parenthood provides the following, by percentage, health care services:
- Contraception – 35%
- Testing and Treatment for STDs and Infections – 34%
- Cancer Screening and Prevention – 17%
- Other Women’s Health Services – 10%
- Abortion Services – 3%
- Other Services – 1%
Never forget, and I realize I am repeating myself here, that not one single tax dollar is used for abortion services. Not one penny.
Not one.
The money that is received from your and my tax dollars that helps fund Planned Parenthood (they also raise a great deal of money to supplement what they do receive) provides essential health services to men and women who either have no insurance or very limited health care coverage. It is also a leading provider of family planning services and compassionately help women and families make a decision, for them, that makes the most sense for how they can and will deal with their decisions; whether its how to best treat an STD, how and when to take your care to a proper specialist for your best health outcome, or how to process what are many times difficult and hard to understand conditions and your options. They assist you in that process, not dictate treatment. Pretty freaking cool, if you are asking.
Over the last ten years, I have interviewed on my radio program in its many incarnations someone with Planned Parenthood literally thousands of times and, by far ,they have been the most repeated organization I have ever had on my program. The reason? Twofold: The services they provide and the information they give to people who need these services deserves an outlet that has a wider reach. So many of the people they serve live in more rural areas and gaining access to healthcare at all can be a challenge and they fill a critical void in that area as well. Secondly, because of the ill-informed religious zealots who continue to lie, obscure, hate and deny truth, facts and reality, the defense for Planned Parenthood has sadly always been a necessity. I am a happy and passionate soldier for them.
The Republicans in Congress, as many of you know, are again threatening to shut down the government over the funding of Planned Parenthood, which will, as we learned a few years back, put almost one million federal employees temporarily out of work and cost the taxpayers billions upon billions of dollars. It is a ploy that will NOT work. What is it about that that the Republicans do not understand?
Oh, I know they understand. They understand all too well.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are against the defunding of Planned Parenthood and a majority still see the gift that Planned Parenthood is even after the disastrous attempt to obliterate Planned Parenthood with what have been proven to be false and heavily edited videos.
I could fill page after page with studies, polls, facts, etc., that show definitively that the vast Right Wing is truly pandering to the money wing of the Republican Party, not the entire Republican Party. Somewhere along the way there is a money trail that proves this to be correct and when someone writes your GOP PAC a big fat check, you have to be the good political slave and do their bidding, in spite of what those who elected you really want, clearly.
Like I said, my goal was not to change a single mind and we all have a right to our opinion on Planned Parenthood. But on this day when I and so many thousands, if not millions, more people demonstrate that they #StandWithPP, I am a loud and proud supporter of this organization. In fact, I am truly blessed how many amazing people have come into my life because of my support for Planned Parenthood. For that, well for that I am beyond grateful. I am whole and happy. Money can’t buy that.
Try it sometime and you may just find that helping to support something so rich and critical as Planned Parenthood might just give that to you, too.
Just a reminder about the importance of making a contribution to Planned Parenthood, no matter how small, from the inestimable Dan Savage:
We have to stand with Planned Parenthood now. When it’s a little difficult. When it’s a little awkward. When they’re under fire. We need to stand with Planned Parenthood. I stand with Planned Parenthood and you should, too. I’m going to make a donation to Planned Parenthood today and I’m going to ask YOU to make a donation to Planned Parenthood today. Go to PlannedParenthood.org and click on “Donate“.I’ve said this before – if you’ve been listening to the show long enough to hear me come to Planned Parenthood’s defense in the past, you’ve heard me say this – you don’t have to donate $500. You don’t have to donate $1,000. You don’t have to donate $25. If all you can spare is five bucks or ten bucks or twenty bucks, go donate it. Go make that donation. Because Planned Parenthood cannot only point to the amount of money it raises from the public as evidence of it’s support, it’s broad support, but the number of donors is another figure that really matters. Another data point that really matters in defending Planned Parenthood, in Planned Parenthood defending itself, and supporters of Planned Parenthood defending Planned Parenthood. Both those numbers have equal weight, equal value. The amount raised from the public and the number of donors, private donors, out their in the public who support Planned Parenthood.
So, even if you can’t inflate the numbers of dollars that they’ve raised, you can inflate the number of donors that they have, the number of supporters that they have who are motivated enough to donate. So, even if you can only spare five bucks, MAKE. THAT. DONATION. Stand with Planned Parenthood. Now. Now is when it really matters most.
If you’re in Michigan, make your donation HERE.
