Planned Parenthood and DU Valentine Hearts

[glowing]

28. Yes, yes, and a few more yes's... Great idea. Planned Parenthood is sooo very important to me.

I grew up in a small town in VT. Needless to say that every Dr a young lady could see was someone they knew and knew their parents. If you asked the Dr. for Birth control or asked for any STD testing, there was no anonymity.

However, there was a Planned Parenthood close enough in one of the larger towns that everyone who was 16 went to. They did not tell parents. They did not question. They answered questions, and better yet, they gave free exams and birth control (most of the time they asked for us to pay what we could.. most of us would pay $5.00 for a pack or $15.00 for a 3 month supply of birth control). They also performed abortions at the clinic for anyone who needed discretion and felt they needed to get one. This one PP clinic kept many, many, many young women from needlessly getting pregnant, real information on how to be sexually safe from STD's and such, and in the few off chances that a young lady did become pregnant, there was a "fix" for the problem. Life could remain somewhat on-track, graduation and college were still a dream that wouldn't be squashed by raising a baby way too young. AND like I said, discretion was the absolute best thing about this clinic. No one's parents would be told and the entire town did not have to know one's business. In a small town, that's a really big deal.

I do not want to see Planned Parenthood go the way of ACORN. Its way too important!!! Its the saving grace of many women across this nation. Its the place where women can be treated with respect and dignity. And there are a lot of women out there who have similar stories to my own... where PP was sanctuary and safety and a vital asset. I only wish they had more offices, more funding, and the ability to treat as many women that they could possibly fit into their offices.. especially younger women and poor women. i can't imagine PP not being around in the future. I haven't been to all their offices by a long shot, but the few I've been in have had the amazing feel of comfort. They weren't like other free-clinics which smell too strongly of disinfectant and lighting was all dark and sketchy... Its just too important to lose.

I will probably buy more hearts than I ever have before. They are under attack and that basically means women are under attack. You would think for all the rhetoric about paying for poor people and unwanted babies, this would be funded to the hilt... Avoiding pregnancy before one is ready is a good thing and we all know the religious right only loves the fetus, but as soon as a baby is born, they want nothing to do with paying for the care of that child.... And for all their lofty rhetoric, their own children are accessing PP and utilizing the discretion of the services to keep themselves from becoming pregnant and to access birth control in a manner that their parents wouldn't be able to find out.