Tonight, I finally got involved with something I truly believe in. I did some volunteer work for Planned Parenthood. In some ways it was so amazing. It’s incredible to surround yourself with women of every, race, creed, color, socio-economic stratus that believe like you!
Before any of you get on your high horse, I support abortion. Unequivocally! Unless you are a woman and carry an unwanted pregnancy, you just don’t get it. Am I the only one who gets the hypocrisy of smaller government when it comes to profitability but not so called morality? Let’s cut welfare but who’s going to feed, clothe, and educate unwanted babies. Babies only seem to have protection before they are born. After, who really gives a shit! We don’t want their mom’s to have welfare or the kids to go to decent schools. Somehow poor children are supposed to parent, educate and direct themselves to much better lives.
But believe it or not, this is not a blog about abortion, which let me repeat, I support as a woman’s right to choose 195%. Using Planned Parenthood statistics, 90% of its services are preventative in nature compared to 3% that are abortion related. Assuming we ignore the CRITICAL 3%, Planned Parenthood provides critical medical services for most women.
I get so sick and tired of people talking about how they support the military. It’s a bunch of bullshit!!! My dad served in Vietnam and then spent 25 year serving his country. You know what we got. We got stripped from having any family identity, the poorest of health care services (I’ve got $25K in dental bills to prove it), and family issues that most of you people can’t come close to understanding. I don’t see things much better for kids like me these days. You mark T’s words, those guys coming back from these pseudo wars (Iraq, Afghanistan) are going to create a generation of people we know very little how to deal with, either the parents or the children. (Check out suicide rates of returning veterans).
Ok, this is not an indictment on the military (however poorly I think of it) either. What I am actually trying to do is to praise my first personnel interaction with a medical system that actually gave a shit about me.
The military did not cover me as a dependent, and I didn’t have insurance. Planned Parenthood was my only option. It was from Planned Parenthood that I actually learned how my period worked (shut up Chad!), I got my first pap smear and my first breast exam. I would venture to say this is also true of most of my girlfriends from college.
Tonight we did some volunteer work. It was lame as volunteer work goes. In fact one of my frustrations was that you had a diverse, energetic group of women who were pretty much up for doing anything and they were harnessed so poorly. One lady said “My husband was scared for me to come. What if there are people protesting” She said, “I’ll do some protesting of my own!”.
But it also made me depressed. To listen to all the stories of these women who just truly wanted something better for their friends, daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, best friends. And to see in some way womens health care moving backwards. Why is Viagra covered under insurance but birth control pills are not? Ladies if you think that’s an accident you are sorely mistaken. It makes me feel like I live in the dark ages. For all our progress it seems women haven’t come much further along.
However, it really was the coolest group of women. I can’t wait to get more involved, and stage rallies, and sit ins, bra burnings and anything else they need from me. If you need a reminder (or maybe your kids do), here’s a small sample of the services Planned Parenthood can provide. I was excited about them taking a more active role in older women healthcare (aka menopause). I’m excited about me taking a more active role in something I truly believe in.
- Birth control
- abstinence
- hormonal (pills to sponge to Nuvaring)
- Cervical caps/protection (Femcap, Diaphram, IUD)
- Condoms
- Morning afterpill
- Spermicide
- Withdrawal (frankly just a dumb idea)
- Sterilization
- For her:
- For him: vasectomy
- General women’s health
- Infertility
- Anemia
- Breast Cancer Screenings
- Cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Physical exam (for sports, employment, wellness)
- Flu
- Menopause
- Menstruation
- Ovarian Cancer
- Smoking cessation
- High blood pressure
- Tetanus
- Thyroid
- Urinary Tract infection
- Yeast Infection and Vaginitis
- Men’s Health
- Birth control
- Infertility
- Testicular cancer
- Urinary tract infections
- Pregnancy
- Pre-pregenancy health
- Pregnancy tests
- Support
- Prenatal Care
- Miscarriage
- Ectopic
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Testing
- Chancroid
- Chlamydia
- Cytomegalivirus
- Genital Warts
- Gonorrhea
- Hep B
- Herpis
- HIV/AIDS
- Human Papillmavirus (HPV)
- Intestinal Parasites
- Molluscum Contagiosum
- Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
- Pubic Lice (Crabs)
- Scabies
- Sypbilis
- Trichomaniasis
- Testing
