New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy (yay CT Dems!), Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, and the President of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, on a conference call Tuesday to condemn the GOP-spawned proposal to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for Planned Parenthood, calling the move “detrimental to poor women and politically motivated.” Well, duh.
But bravo for Bloomberg (who has historically been “fervently pro-choice,” according to The Observer) for throwing his voice—and political power—behind this issue.
Planned Parenthood’s detractors are quick to paint the organization as some sort of bizarre Abortion Express; according to the reliably insane Michele Bachmann, the three “express centers” Planned Parenthood has opened in Minnesota now mean, “women are doing their grocery shopping, picking up Starbucks, living their daily lives and stopping off for an abortion.”
Never mind the fact that those three centers don’t even offer abortion services—what they do offer, however, are birth control, emergency contraception, pregnancy and STD testing, and HPV vaccines.
In New York City alone, Bloomberg noted, Planned Parenthood performs 12,000 cervical cancer screening and 56,000 contraceptive visits every year.
Mr. Shumlin said that in rural parts of his state, Planned Parenthood is often the only health care women have.
“This is health care access that women rely upon,” he said, “not only to avoid unwanted pregnancies but to stay healthy and prevent disease.”
What’s more, for many women—but also men and teens—Planned Parenthood is their only option for non-emergency sexual-health care.
A Bloomberg.com profile of a Brooklyn Planned Parenthood noted “the waiting room at the Brooklyn health center, which occupies an entire floor of an office building, was filled to overflowing, and center director Nellie Santiago-Rivera said her 35-member staff often sees 150 patients a day.”
Many of the clients are black and Hispanic women in their 20s, without a primary-care doctor of their own.
“This is their community health center,” said Evelyn Intondi, a Planned Parenthood nurse-midwife, who acknowledged that the campaigns against Planned Parenthood have only reinforced her resolve.
“It reignites the fire in your belly that brought you to this in the beginning,” Intondi said. “This is what I do. There are definitely some people who don’t like it.”
Like Laura Goode, I’ve never had an abortion, but as a scared 17 year old in the days before Plan B was available over the counter, I definitely benefited from Planned Parenthood’s services.
Paranoid after a sexual encounter with a soon-to-be ex who was terrible when it came to matters of sexual health, discussing my fears, or, eventually, monogamy—and convinced I didn’t have time to see my regular pediatrician—I read everything I could find online about Plan B, printed out some Mapquest directions to the clinic a few miles away, and found a willing friend to accompany me on the trip. I was young, terrified, had only had my license for a week, and was heading to the Bridgeport, CT Planned Parenthood.
When my friend—a blond, J-Crew-wearing, Miss Porter’s student and I walked into the waiting room, a quick glance around showed that while we may not have been the youngest people there, we were certainly the only ones who looked quite like us—that is, white, suburban teens. A few girls clutched babies in their arms; others scowled at the sheepish looking guys accompanying them. Certainly, no one looked happy to be there. The receptionist seemed overwrought and was brusque with me—which only reinforced my fish out of water feeling. However, the doctor was young, professional, and pleasant—and she told me I was probably the most well informed patient when it came to Plan B she had ever met. (My overpowering tendency towards research, natch.) I paid on a sliding scale, was given a Patient ID card with a number I could call at any time if I had any questions—something I utilized a few more times over the years—and shortly after, was set up with a birth control script.
A few years later, when I was a freshman at Sarah Lawrence College and working to get the College’s Sexual Assault Policy overhauled, I had the opportunity to become a trained Planned Parenthood Volunteer for the Greater Hudson Area, and once again witnessed firsthand the valuable services the organization provides to all kinds of communities.
“We’ve been here for the past 95 years, and we’ll be here for the next 95,” vowed Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood.
On a related note, here’s a handy website that will tell you if your State Rep voted for or against the Pence Amendment. Plug in your ZIP and find out if you should be applauding them or writing letters of protest.
While it’s true that these proposed bills will most likely amount to symbolic–and wasteful–theater and little else, our federal budget is also reflective of our values as a nation–or should be. The Daily Show can blisteringly mock Republican efforts to trim spending by cutting Head Start programs, nutritional services for women, children, and infants, tax breaks for insurance companies that offer abortion coverage, etc–and we can all have a good laugh–but really, what do these bills say–even if they are symbolic–about what value we attach to our women, to our education, to our poor communities? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Image from Photo Bucket
MORE FROM MICHELLE KOUFOPOULOS:
House Votes to Defund Planned Parenthood–But NASCAR still safe!
Redefining Rape: Republican House Sets Sights on Terrifying Anti-Choice Bill
GOP’s “Protect Life Act” Would See Pregnant Women Die Before Granting Them Abortions
Michelle Koufopoulos
Michelle Koufopoulos is a writer, editor, book lover and tea enthusiast. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and spent a year studying at Oxford University, being indoctrinated into British culture while working on her novel set in Paris in the 1920s. She writes regularly ...
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