By Becka Wall – @beckawall
On September 18, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to deny $500 million in federal funding to Planned Parenthood, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most trusted health care providers in the country. This week, the U.S. Senate debated and did a procedural vote on a 20-week abortion ban. Though the bill failed to move forward, the Senate leadership can bring it up again at any time.
These attacks have been tied to recent “sting” videos targeting Planned Parenthood, which first surfaced in July from the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. Two things were wildly clear when watching these videos:
- The videos have been heavily edited to match the Center for Medical Progress’ mission and narrative.
- This was part of a nationwide effort to end the right to have an abortion.
For the past five years, anti-abortion state governors and state legislative majorities have passed an astounding number of restrictions on abortion. These laws, like Texas’ now-infamous law H.B. 2 for example, have shut down clinics and forced women to drive hundreds of miles just to exercise their constitutional right to have an abortion. In the last four years alone, states have enacted a total of 231 anti-abortion restrictions.
Despite what many believe, abortion is actually a common experience – one in three American women will have an abortion in her lifetime. And despite what anti-abortion extremists want people to think, having an abortion doesn’t mean you hate kids – 61 percent of women who have an abortion are already mothers.
Abortion access is about a woman’s right to control their lives, bodies and destinies. It’s about determining your own future. Abortion access is about economic security and ensuring a family can be provided and cared for in the right environment.
Outraged women have been sharing their stories with the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion. Abortion has been practiced for millennia and will be practiced for millennia even if we try to outlaw it. So why not stand up for women’s health and safety? Going back to the days of back-alley abortions is not an option.
Let’s work to expand and protect reproductive rights and fight together for gender equality.
Full disclosure: the author works at a pro-choice organization.
Moxie 
September 24, 2015 at 10:53 pm
The idea that Planned Parenthood is a “trusted” organization is laughable. The videos (you can easily access the unedited versions – I suggest everyone watch them, although most liberals flat out refuse to) clearly show members of PP scheme to violate Federal laws by selling baby parts for profit. Not to mention that their founder Margaret Thatcher was a known racist who put clinics in predominantly in African American communities as a means to control the population… Besides, there are many other life-affirming women’s health clinics who provide all of the same services as PP (aside from abortion, obviously). They should be the ones getting the government funding since PP has become such a controversial organization.
The fact that abortion is a “common experience” does not make it any less tragic. Before the Civil War, slavery was a “common experience.” Does that make it OK? Does that make it any less disgusting? Before the end of WWII somewhere between five and six million Jewish people were murdered in the Holocaust (sounds common to me)… but it was legal according to the Nazis, so that must make it OK, right? The idea that because ‘its common so it must be moral’ is one of the most foolish things I’ve ever heard.
The argument for abortion being a route to control your own “destiny” is ridiculous as well. If you are so concerned about your future, how about taking some personal responsibility? AKA be a responsible person. The first thing you learn in sex-ed is that “the only safe sex is abstinence”. If you are in a position where you absolutely cannot support a baby, then you probably shouldn’t be having sex.
“Abortion access is about economic security and ensuring a family can be provided and cared for in the right environment.”- Again, economic security can be guaranteed in the first place by simply practicing personal responsibility. This way, innocent babies don’t have to die. Alternatively, adoption is a perfectly acceptable alternative to murdering babies. There are plenty of life affirming organizations whose goal is to help women to get to a point in their lives where they can support a baby, or to put them in contact with families who are desperate to adopt because they can’t have babies of their own.
As far as “gender equality” is concerned- it’ll never be a thing. And the reason for that is because women are so beyond superior to men that its not even close. Women can grow a human in their body and then feed it with their body. If you think about the male contribution to that entire process theres really no comparison.
As a woman who has experienced an unplanned pregnancy, I can tell you that you can never really control your own destiny. But I can also say with certainty that what you have planned is no where near as awesome as what the world has planned for you. Growing a child is the most amazing experience a woman can have (despite the horrendous swelling). I think that real progress in women’s health and equality would be in the form of support for mothers and expectant mothers including longer maternity and paternity leave with guaranteed benefits.
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September 25, 2015 at 11:59 am
Thank you so much for reading this article and sharing your opinion! We’d love to hear more about your story and what it has been like for you becoming a mother of an unexpected pregnancy. If you’re interested, please email moxie.lauren@gmail.com
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