Archive for the ‘Planned Parenthood’ Category

As a native North Carolinian, Tuesday’s vote to write discrimination into our Constitution feels like being rejected by family.

Yes, like family, you know the ones, some incredibly great people and some people you only see at reunions, and some you wish you didn’t have to see at all, much less claim as family, but “bless their hearts that’s just the way they are…”

The vote Tuesday was like 6 out of 10 of those family members saying, “You’re not as good as me. You don’t deserve the same treatment as me.” Or perhaps in more North Carolina speak, “Hon, that’s not for you, you understand, right?”

Well no.  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand how I’m supposed to be ok being treated as a second class citizen.  I don’t understand how 60% of you think it is ok to discriminate against me.  I don’t understand.  I don’t understand and I’m mad.

Being mad as hell and ashamed of North Carolina is kind of like coming home to a familiar but not well-loved place.  I mean I lived through 30 years of Jesse Helms as my state’s senator.  I KNOW about embarrassment.  I know about heartbreak- the Harvey Gannt vs. Jesse Helms race of 1990.  I know about explaining to the people you meet when you leave the state that “no, we’re really not all like that.”

But having lived the last 20 years of my life in Orange County and seeing our state turn blue in 2008, I really started to think North Carolina is different.  North Carolina is progressive. North Carolina is a safe place to be.

Then 2010 came and Republicans took control of our state house for the first time in 100 years. They quickly started work to turn back the hands of time.

It has been absolutely devastating to watch them go after women, children, education, the poor, and of course the gays.  It has been so painful and so sad. I’ve spent many days in Raleigh protesting their shenanigans.  I’ve called, emailed, visited, implored, yelled, marched, rallied, facebooked, blogged, donated, you name it.

And now, after fighting alongside so many of my friends against Amendment 1 for the last few months, after putting myself out there, having tough conversations, giving time and money to educate North Carolinians about this, I’m broken hearted.

I’m pissed and I’m ashamed of NC.  No matter that I live in the pat of butter (4 counties that voted against the Amendment) in the bowl of grits that is NC, I still live in NC and the vote IS a representation of our state. It does reflect on the ignorance and bigotry of our people.

Yea sure 29 other states have done the same thing. As momma would say, “If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?”  It doesn’t make it right.  And you know what, attitudes are changing, some of those states voted 10 years ago.  We voted this week.  So yeah, I’m pissed and yes I think it is perfectly acceptable that people are calling us backwater, homophobic, redneck, regressive, etc.

As the Dixie Chicks sing,
“I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and I don’t
have time to go round and round and round”

Of course condoms are an effective tool for preventing HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy, but who knew they were so cool to use?

Planned Parenthood’s campaign, “Where Did You Wear It?” kicked off Valentine’s Week (also aptly named “National Condom Weel”) to let people virtually share where they did the deed, but most importantly, where they did it while using a condom.

When you visit the “Where Did You Wear It?” website, it prompts you to “Check In” then answer a series of demographic questions, such as the general vicinity of your recent, protected encounter, the gender of both parties, and your age – otherwise, it’s all anonymous.  It then provides options that best describe your relationship with that partner which range from “All about love” to “What relationship?”

Next, Planned Parenthood and fellow condom-users want to know why you chose to wear the condom in the first place. Then there’s a question about the sex itself, where you can choose an answer like, “The sex was… Fair—a work in progress,” and last, the essential question: “Where did you wear it?”  Although, the website doesn’t allow for personalized details about the exact location, like “In the photo booth on the Santa Monica Pier” or “In an Urban Outfitters dressing room” (some little secrets are best kept for yourself), it does offer a slightly less juicy, yet pretty comprehensive dropdown list to choose from.

Now you might be thinking, well that’s cool and all, but how am I supposed to remember to get on a computer, find the website, and answer all these questions after every toe-tingling escapade?  Well, the geniuses behind this idea thought of a solution to that: thousands and thousands of condoms that Planned Parenthoods are handing out now have a Quick Response (QR) code on the wrapper for all you smart-phoners to easily scan whilst enjoying your post-coital bliss.

The “Where Did You Wear It?” program may sound somewhat lighthearted and amusing, but the motives behind it are very serious. The mission of a campaign like this is to persuade sexually active people to use condoms by providing them with a platform to brag about their responsible
decision, and by making them feel tuned-in to a new trend, because condom wearing is all the rage—people all over the country are doing it!

As the disclaimer at the bottom of their webpage points out, “sex happens,” and no one knows that better than an organization like Planned Parenthood, whose unrelenting job it is to help reduce the risks associated with people having sex.  Since so many people are doing it, we might as well make doing it safely cool.

And speaking of cool condoms, now at your local Planned Parenthood, you can stock up on Keith Haring edition Proper Attire condoms.  I mean, how sweet is that?!

For further reading on the “Where Did You Wear It?” campaign, check out:

Where did you wear it?

The Daily Caller

The Huffington Post

You can also see some of the late Keith Haring’s condom wrapper designs and learn about his AIDS awareness initiatives here.

Planned Parenthood believes in equality, self-determination, and respect.  This is one of the reasons
I love working here.  We believe in people and we believe sexuality is a natural part of life and that it should be
celebrated.

Over the ten years that I’ve worked here, Planned Parenthood has attended every NC PRIDE parade in Durham. We canvassed the crowds gathering signatures for petitions to reinstate comprehensive sex ed to public schools and to pass an anti-bullying bill, which explicitly protects the most vulnerable children. We found great support and great partners in the LGBT community.  Working with Equality NC, we lobbied the NC legislature to pass the anti-bullying bill and to restore comprehensive sex education to public schools.

Then 2010 election happened.

Extreme right-wing politicians took control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in 100 years and started to turn back all progress,  creating a very hostile environment for Equality, Public Education, and Reproductive Rights.

Last year, extremist politicians banned Planned Parenthood from receiving state funding for birth control and cancer screenings, slashed education funding to our schools and universities and passed an intrusive ultrasound bill that treats women as if they are not capable of making reproductive health decisions.

Now these same right-wing politicians want to write discrimination into our state constitution. In September, they voted to add a Constitutional Amendment to the May 8 Primary ballot.

The Amendment is poorly written, will have unintended consequences, and will harm families by affecting unmarried couples and their children.

This Amendment simply Goes Too Far. Legal experts who have studied the Amendment language believe children will lose health insurance coverage, parents will lose custody and visitation rights and unmarried women will lose domestic violence protections if this Amendment passes.

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina urges you to PROTECT ALL NORTH CAROLINA FAMILIES and Vote  AGAINST the Amendment on May 8^th (Early Voting April 19-May 5.)

At 2011 NC PRIDE, we gathered cards from more than 500 activists who pledged to help us fight. And fight we will.

We will be reaching out to our supporters to educate them about the Amendment and urge them to vote AGAINST. We’ve identified a group of 6500 Planned Parenthood supporters who we want to educate on the full range of consequences of this amendment so they will vote AGAINST on May 8.  We will be making calls April 11^th, 12^th, and 17^th from 6:00-8:30pm in our Chapel Hill office.

If you’d like to help DEFEAT AMENDMENT ONE, help us reach out to these voters, email Mitchell.Price@ppcentralnc.org.

“I don’t believe in abortion,” said the abortion patient sitting across from me. “But, I am in a special situation,” she went on to say.

In almost seven years as a health center manager for Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina I have witnessed many special situations. There was the woman who told me her husband was a pastor.  He was shocked when she became unexpectedly pregnant.  She said she believes in a forgiving God and that she and her husband both knew they were making the best decision for them as that time. There was the young, scared 13 year-old rape victim. And there was the young couple, both recently and unexpectedly unemployed, who together, made the decision they felt was best for their family.

In fact, every woman who comes to Planned Parenthood for an abortion is in a special situation.  Each is making an informed, conscious choice. Imagine a patient who very much wants to continue a pregnancy, yet requires an abortion because it is medically
necessary.

Currently, individuals and groups participating in 40 Days for Life are protesting outside our Chapel Hill health center; a center where we provide annual exams, STI screenings, birth control consultations, and all methods of birth control, including vasectomy.

The 40 Days protestors pray to end abortion, so their signs say. At Planned Parenthood we do more than pray. Much of the work we do is intended to reduce the need for abortion. This is one reason Planned Parenthood is working to ensure that all women have access to birth control. Meanwhile, we serve every patient with compassion and non-judgment, as she navigates her own special situation.

-Alex D., Health Center Manager

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve witnessed the media firestorm that has women across the U.S. taking a stand for reproductive health. When a hearing from the House of Representatives failed to include any women in it’s discussion on birth control and religious freedom in the scope of healthcare reform, it made several women angry; so much so that three members of the House walked out of the hearing for excluding women’s voices on the issue.  But things really heated up when Rush Limbaugh, poster boy and hate monger for the right-wing, called Sandra Fluke- the woman the birth control panel deemed unqualified to speak- a “slut.”

This has been all over the news recently, and with good reason.  Women are tired of not only fighting for their healthcare, but are tired of being used as a tool in the Anti-Choice agenda.  Rep. Carolyn Maloney said it best, “If the far right can attack people like Sandra Fluke, women are going to be afraid to speak because they’re going to be called terrible words. It’s an attempt to silence people that are speaking out for women.”   And that is hitting the nail on the head.

Silencing women has been the name of the game all along for anti-choice lawmakers.   Here in North Carolina, when certain legislators tried to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving state funding for preventative health programs, they were trying to silence women.  When HB 854 passed last year, not only were they trying to shame women, but they were seeking to strip women of their voices.  The nearly 100 anti-choice laws that have been introduced in the past year across the country have been nothing more than an attempt to shut women up so that anti-choice legislators can use women’s health for their own agendas.

The name calling by their media cronies?  That was just the final tipping point in what we know they’ve been trying to do all along.  They want us to stay quiet so that they can dismantle women’s access to safe, affordable healthcare.  So we’re going to show them.  We’re going to prove to those who would try to take away our voices that 2012 is the last time they’ll ever try to shush us
up again.  We’re going to tell our lawmakers that we are watching.  And if they don’t listen, our vote will yell more than loud enough for us!  Don’t let a few schoolyard bullies think they can keep us quiet…join us in 2012!

We’ll add that to the long list of questions we have for the New Hanover County Commissioners today. Just last night the all-male Board of County Commissioners voted to reject a state grant in the amount of $8,899 that would “provide medical services related to family planning including physician’s consultation, examination, prescription, continuing supervision, laboratory examination and contraceptive supplies.” Congratulations New Hanover County Commissioners! You win the blue ribbon in the race to the bottom on women’s health!

Just as significant as what they did (denying low-income women access to basic preventative health care which, for women, DOES include birth control) is what they said about what they did. According to the Wilmington Star Commissioner Rick Catlin stated that he had an issue with “using taxpayer dollars to fund someone’s irresponsibility.” Chairman Ted Davis continued on the theme saying, “If these young women were responsible people and didn’t have the sex to begin with, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Once again bear in mind that we are talking about birth control here. The New Hanover County Commission is now taking the position that women should not have sex for non-procreative reasons. Because certainly no man has ever had the desire to do such a thing.

It’s pretty clear that the Davis, Catlin and the rest are convinced that only a “certain type” of woman uses birth control. I think we all we have to do is reference Rush Limbaugh’s debacle last week to know what they’re calling such women in their minds. (As an interesting side note, mysteriously the funding for condoms in the New Hanover County’s public health department appears to remain intact.)

While the women of New Hanover County and of the state of North Carolina become very aware that their health care is being turned into a political issue (and preparing to turnout to the polls to let the world know just what they think of that), here’s some food for thought for you, the all-male New Hanover Board of Commissioners:

Not that we owe you an explanation but you should know that there are a plethora of reasons that women use birth control. And, in spite of what Mr. Catlin and his colleagues think, the real reason that most women use birth control is because we’re responsible. We’re responsible by preventing unintended pregnancies so we can finish school, start a career, care for the children that we already have, or space pregnancies to protect our health and future fertility. Many of us have medical conditions that we are responsible for proactively addressing using birth control including potentially serious and painful conditions like endometriosis. And yes, there are women who take birth control because they don’t want to get pregnant right now and taking birth control to prevent an unintended pregnancy is a responsible decision to make. It’s a decision that’s just fine because frankly it is none of anyone else’s business most especially the New Hanover County Commissioners’. And last time I checked it takes two people to create a pregnancy.

So what can you do outraged women and men of North Carolina? Sign our petition right now letting the board know exactly how you feel about their decision and urging them to reverse course at their next meeting!

And so it begins, another 40 Days for Life.

I’ve been preparing for the protestors for weeks:  reminding staff of our policies, informing the police department that PPCNC is a protest site, and emotionally preparing myself.  Because really, who wouldn’t be shaking with fear when there are 75+ people on your sidewalk who hate you?

As I watched them this morning from the second story window I thought about hate and judgment and also about what a weird job I have working at Planned Parenthood!  But mostly about hate and judgment.  We all judge.  There are things we all hate.  It’s our actions that make the difference.  I judge parents who cake make-up and hair extensions on their 3 year olds and enter them in pageants.  I think it’s gross, but that’s their choice.  I will guide my daughters in other directions.  And I know my family and friends have judged me for choices I’ve made, but they are mine.  I own them and I expect my family and friends
to respect my decisions and to support and love me, especially when one ends up being a mistake. 

I think we all have to take a good look out the window of our pretty glass houses and think hard before we throw stones at those we
judge. 

40 Days for Life claims to be a peaceful, prayerful event to pray to end abortion.  There are a hundred different ways they could volunteer their time to help women prevent unwanted pregnancy (maybe my next post will be a list of the 100 ways).  When they stand and pray outside Planned Parenthood they are only throwing stones at women who are making choices for themselves
and their families.

-Leigh S., HR & Admin Manager, Security Coordinator for PPCNC

Friend, supporter, advocate, Dr. Amy Tiemann lends her voice to the sea of women fighting back against the unbelievable tide of attacks on women’s fundamental equality.

“You would think that at age 43 and married for 15 years, this might be a hypothetical issue for me, or one that I would only be worried about for my daughter’s generation, but it’s not. ”

Read the rest of her beautiful and powerful story, “Why I can’t afford to have another baby as a member of the sandwich generation,” on her blog MojoMom.com.

This past Friday, the Obama administration rejected lobbying efforts to limit women’s access to free birth control. According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, providing women with a means to control the amount of children they have is a “direct attack on religion,” and is a violation of the clergy’s religious freedoms.

Should President Obama have accommodated the Draconian requests of the bishops, then employees of Catholic Churches, along with employees and students at Catholic universities, would have been out of luck. One protester, a student at a Catholic university, explained why she opposes the idea of a religious exemption on a Change.org petition: “I spend $25 a month on my birth control pill through a non-profit clinic. If I filled my prescription through CVS the cost would be almost $40 a month. I’m a college student with rent and bills to pay and food to buy. I can’t afford to keep doing this. And I certainly can’t afford to have a child right now!” 

The exemption the bishops were calling for would also violate the separation of church and state clause of the US Constitution. In truth, it is simply not up to the Catholic Church, or any religious organization, to influence government in such a way that would limit a person’s access to medical care. This should be obvious. However, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops would like us to believe that they have the religious freedom to deny women their reproductive freedoms. It’s like saying that, should the Catholic Church one day deem it necessary to corral tithe through robbery of local grocery stores, clerics should be allowed to do so on the grounds that … they’re religious and they want to. It may be a stretch, but it is a useful parallel when thinking about how “religious exemption” is used to argue that certain groups of people should have the right to ignore the law, just because. Plus, it’s funny to imagine the Pope running out of Harris Teeter carrying sacs of money. Just saying.

Ultimately, President Obama has required that all insurance policies, regardless of whether or not they are provided by religious institutions, fully cover medical contraceptives for female bodied people.

Though this decision is marked as a success for the pro-choice community, this is not the only religious battle to have been fought over women’s bodies recently. The “Women’s Right to Know Act,” passed right here in North Carolina[read our previous blog on this], is a clear example of how Christian ideology has infiltrated the law books. One aspect of the act, passed in October, requires that abortion providers state the following religious phrase to the person having an abortion: “The life of each human being begins at conception. Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique living human being.” If suggesting that a woman is a murderer for exercising her reproductive freedoms is not a direct attack on women, I don’t know what is.