Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Pink bleeds red

I’m beyond disappointed in the announcement today from the United States’ leading breast cancer foundation Susan G. Komen who has severed its partnership with Planned Parenthood. In fact, I’m raging and furious. This “break up” means that hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants for breast exams will no longer be available to Planned Parenthood. There is a he-said, she-said battle waging on the reason for the rift between Susan G Komen and Planned Parenthood, most of it centered on anti-abortion Republicans pressuring the breast cancer charity to pull support for Planned Parenthood. Regardless of the political bickering, the real losers are low-income women across the country that rely on Planned Parenthood for reproductive health and other women’s health services.


First, let me dispel the myth that Planned Parenthood is just an abortion organization. I recently read that an estimated 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are in abortion care. Over 90 percent of its services support preventative care. For many decades, Planned Parenthood has provided reproductive health care to millions of women, men and young people not only across the country but also throughout the world. Planned Parenthood promotes a woman’s health and well being and believes in an individual’s right to make informed, independent decisions about their health, sex and family planning. Planned Parenthood offers services for cancer screenings to help with early detection of breast cancer and cervical cancer.


One in five women turns to Planned Parenthood for services at some point in her life. They are typically not your women shopping in Nordstrom but rather your low-income woman struggling to make ends meet. What politicians and now Susan G. Komen are doing is taking away vital reproductive health services for women with lower incomes.


Too, state governments are enacting legislation further hampering women’s health. Rick Perry cut funding in Texas that would have provided low-income women with cervical cancer screenings, birth control and STD prevention and treatment (most of the cuts were to Planned Parenthood). Too, Chris Christie cut $7.5 million in family planning funding in New Jersey.


The brilliant actress and women’s health activist Maggie Gyllenhaal recently said, “I believe very strongly that every woman has the right to decide what she can do with her body.” She continues, “I’ve been a Planned Parenthood supporter my whole life – since my mom took me to a rally when I was in sixth grade.” Gyllenhaal says she’ll take her own children to events her mother took her to, concluding, “I hope we’ll be celebrating our freedoms and rights, not fighting for them once again as we are now.”


I wonder what Maggie has to say about today’s announcement.


To support Planned Parenthood, visit www.plannedparenthood.org

1 comment:

  1. Sharing online now! This is a sad day...but maybe it'll spur people to get out and VOTE for what's right (women's rights)!

    ReplyDelete