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| if you do not, and don't want to read a huge rant, do not proceed. |
But last Friday another thing happened. The house voted to defund Planned Parenthood and if that bill doesn't pass, they will shut down the government.
From Al Jazeera America:
Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., has been circulating a letter, co-signed so far by 31 of his House Republican colleagues, emphasizing that they will not support any funding legislation that includes federal money for Planned Parenthood.
“It is imperative that Congress do everything within its power to investigate these reports and take immediate action to stop them,” the letter read. “In the meantime, we must act to fully defund Planned Parenthood. Please know that we cannot and will not support any funding resolution — an appropriations bill, an omnibus package, a continuing resolution or otherwise — that contains any funding for Planned Parenthood, including mandatory funding streams.”Who are these people? Literally, who are they? And moreover, how dare they.
What congress has done is shameful. Planned Parenthood is one of the greatest assets to family planning women (and thereby men) have access to. They help millions of people a year (2.7 million according to their 2013 annual report) and most of those people are poor. They provide pap smears, STI screening and breast exams and save thousands upon thousands of women from death from cancer and harmful effects of other diseases. They allow women of all backgrounds to control their reproductive lives by providing them with free or reduced cost birth control.
From a blog post by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton:
The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine calls Planned Parenthood’s contraception services one of “the single greatest effort[s] to prevent the unwanted pregnancies that result in abortions.”
Planned Parenthood’s services are particularly important to poor and lower-income women. At least 78 percent of its patients have incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.Who will pick up the slack if Planned Parenthood is defunded? Who will open their doors to millions of people in desperate need of inexpensive or free care?
A large part of the overarching conversation taking place focuses on Planned Parenthood providing abortion services — whether or not abortion makes people uncomfortable it's legal. Whether it's 3% of their services or 30% they are provided a legal and very much needed service.
According to the World Health Organization:
- 21.6 million women experience an unsafe abortion worldwide each year; 18.5 million of these occur in developing countries
- 47,000 women die from complications of unsafe abortion each year.
- Deaths due to unsafe abortion remain close to 13% of all maternal deaths.
Do we really want to join those appalling statistics of maternal death due to unsafe abortions? Do we wish to return to the time before Roe? "In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women—nearly one-fifth (18%) of maternal deaths recorded in that year."
I for one would love to move towards abortion being unnecessary (while still very much a choice!) because women have ready access to information, contraception, and supportive partners — not because some rich old white guy thinks they're unfortunate.
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With that, I give you what I am doing tonight to aid in this effort, contacting my congressional Representative, Rick Larsen, to tell him I support his vote to continue funding Planned Parenthood and how important this issue is to continue fighting.
You may find your representative and information to contact them here. Eastern Washington friends note that Cathy McMorris Rodgers voted to defund and she's up for re-election in 2016!
To see how the representative for your district voted see this roll call list from last Friday.
You can find out ways to stand with Planned Parenthood here.
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And finally, my letter I will be sending to Rick Larsen tonight:
Dear Congressman Larsen,
First of all, thank you for voting against defunding Planned Parenthood and letting congress know you do not stand with their decision to let politics come before millions of American's health.
I find what Republicans and other members of congress are doing right now to pull back on women's reproductive rights shameful and repugnant. I am only 25 but already feel as though my rights are dwindling by the day. What will the rights of my children be? What will their access to reproductive care look like?
As you know, without Planned Parenthood's services millions will go without access to affordable STI screenings, pap smears, and cancer screenings. In addition, I would prefer not to transcend into the time before Roe v. Wade when up to 18% of maternal deaths were caused by unsafe abortion practices. Who will fill this gap, if Planned Parenthood is without federal funding? I for one am worried Congressman.
Please continue to stand up for my rights and the rights of everyone in Washington. We need Planned Parenthood, whether or not Representatives like Mick Mulvaney think so, and we must fight those who disagree.
Thank you, Congressman Larsen, and good luck out there!
Best,
emily
Emily Howard
Bellingham, Washington