After class today I really wanted to voice my opinion on the planned parenthood facilities being shut down. I strongly disagree with Texas and how majority of the state is against abortions. Now Im not a parent/mom so I might not be in the actual situation these women are in, but i do know if I was I would feel a lot better if I had a place to go to for help.
The facts of the matter is that there is more than just abortions planned parenthood helps young and older women with. Some women don't have health insurance or enough money to pay the treatments they would need to prevent being pregnant. Or what if they had a std from a sex partner and needed medical attention. What if they had cervical cancer and would never know unless they got that check up from planned parenthood.
Also I feel like there are some valid reasons women may want to get an abortion. Some women feel as though they are not ready or capable of taking care of a child. They might not be financially or mentally stable enough to deal with such a situation. Another situation could be a woman was raped and became pregnant afterwards. I could completely understand a woman not wanting to carry the child of a man that has caused her pain and suffering. One other and final reason could be that in the woman's career plan it would be impossible to raise a child in a stressful and overwhelming work environment.
To me these clinics offer women and men the opportunity to make a choice to protect themselves from disease, make a decision on something that could alter the rest of their lives, and to get assistance with a current condition. These facilities are important to the community and without them we will see a rise in pregnancies, untreated diseases, and people how are not able to get the help they need. This will effect the city more than the city realizes, and maybe that will cause them to change their decision.
Planned Parenthood does a lot of beneficial things for woman that do not have a large income and/or woman that do not have insurance, so I agree that their funding should not get pulled. However, there are a few things that concern me.
ReplyDeleteI have been without insurance for the last 4 years and understand that medical care is unbelievably expensive and Planned Parenthood is a great asset for situations like that. By providing screenings and other necessary care for these women they are allowing medical care that would have possibly been ignored if they did not have this option. I agree they do a very good job of all of the reasons I have listed.
As far as the abortion issue is concerned, I agree that there are certain situations a woman may not want to carry a child. Incest and rape would be the only reasons I could accept. Any other case I do not agree with. If you are irresponsible and get yourself into an unplanned pregnancy that is unwanted then you have so many other options than to terminate the baby. So many couples cannot have children and would do anything to adopt an unwanted baby. So while I do not judge people in any decision they make, it is nice to know that woman get to think about every option that they have such as adoption. I have heard from several pregnant women that have visited Planned Parenthood and they say that one of the pushed conversations is about getting an abortion and rarely the option of adoption. This would be my only gripe about these facilities.
Overall, I agree with what Keturah is saying minus the abortion issue. Planned Parenthood does help a lot of women get through pregnancy, screenings, pregnancy prevention and many more things which is awesome. They help save lives of woman that may have otherwise not had to chance to take care of themselves.
There were many intriguing blog posts written by my fellow classmates that interest me, however, this issue with Planned Parenthood weighs very heavily on my heart and on my mind. The fact that we are having this debate and that the District Court or any court for that matter can bring this up again in the 21st Century infuriates me! I agree with everything that Ms. Colds points out in her post. It is true, there are many services that Planned Parenthood provides for women. For several years I used Planned Parenthood for routine check-ups. I have always been comforted by the fact that if I were ever in the position again where I did not have health insurance, Planned Parenthood would be there to address my specific health care needs at an affordable price. Now, I am not so sure they will be there for me to fall back on.
ReplyDeleteThe unfortunate reality is that the proposed efforts to pull the funding and the threat to shut down the Women’s Health Program is an abortion issue. It is nothing more than a political stunt to appease the Pro-lifers. A woman has a legal right to choose. Whether you agree with abortion or not – IT’S THE LAW. It was settled, or so I thought, in the Roe v. Wade case which, not surprisingly, originally took place here, in the great state of Texas. Has time somehow been turned back 40 years? What’s happening!!??
How can politicians get away with their attempt to try to take away funding and forcing women to have vaginal ultrasounds? I am so confused. I am very disappointed in our Legislature and truly enraged by the notion that the law can be so easily manipulated. We, as women, must stand up for our rights and we must fight this war on abortion. The simple fact of the matter is that in the past, women were literally risking their lives to exercise what they felt like was a constitutional right to decide when and if they wanted to have children. My fear today is that women will again compromise their future health and their lives again if the District Courts and the Nation fails to do the right thing and shoot down all of the proposals that limit women’s health and their right to choose.
Women want to feel comfortable and confident in the decisions that we make when it comes to our health. The threat of losing thousands of Planned Parenthood facilities (one of the most reliable, affordable health clinics for women) I believe would turn back the clock and make women find alternative unsafe methods to terminate their pregnancies. Just the thought of it makes me want to start a new sexual revolution and believe me we won’t just be burning bras and marching on Washington this time – oh no, this time, it’s War.
I just finished reading my colleagues post titled "Planned Parenthood," and I want to start off immediately by saying that I completely agree with her position. Since Texas is currently a Republican state, it is no surprise that "we" are against abortions and Planned Parenthood clinics. I'm not entirely sure as to why we are against Planned Parenthood clinics, because they do offer so much more in the field of protecting women's health than just abortions, but that is seemingly the way it is.
ReplyDeleteMy colleague gives great examples of how we need Planned Parenthood clinics for the reasons that they help women if they have contracted an sexually transmitted disease, they provide low or no cost cervical cancer exams to patients who cannot afford them, and another reason, which I personally don't believe was stressed enough, Planned Parenthood also provides low or no cost breast cancer screenings to patients. Breast cancer has been such a huge problem for women and one of the main things that Planned Parenthood does is protect women by giving them these screenings; they are completely vital.
I understand that some people (Republicans) want to put Planned Parenthood out of business because they associate them with abortions, but what I think that many people fail to realize is that Planned Parenthood does so much more for women that just give abortions. My colleague gives great examples of why abortions should not be banned and I tend to agree with her and the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that abortions should be legal; however, I tend to agree with President Clinton more in stating that "abortions should be safe, legal, and rare."
My colleague does a great job in describing why women might need to get an abortion in their current place in life and I personally don't think that I, or anyone else has the right to tell a woman what she can and can't do with her own body. All in all, I can't state enough how strongly I agree with my colleagues article; it was written very well and I agree that the state of Texas should take the hands out of the matter and leave the Planned Parenthood clinics alone.