Photo via CNN
There’s been a lot of talk about birth control and Planned Parenthood in the media lately. It is an election year, after all, and what better way to appeal to the electorate than by ignoring issues of real importance (employment, poverty, education — all the boring stuff) and focusing on issues that have no place in politics; namely, sex and women’s bodies.
Last week, there was a giant kerfuffle when Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced it would no longer be granting funds to Planned Parenthood, an organization that has become Public Enemy Number One in this election year. With the deaths of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, America’s politicians need an enemy to fight in order to rally voters, and they’ve invented one in Planned Parenthood. Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to jump into the political fray and, though it eventually reversed its decision, ended up paying for it with its reputation.
This week, the topic dominating the news is birth control: who has access to it, and who pays for it. It’s astounding that in 2012, with 7 billion people on the Earth, the topic of birth control being morally “right” or “wrong” — let alone available — is even an issue. But again, it is an election year, and, just like in any other form of advertising, sex sells.
When issues like these are bandied about by politicians, it’s easy to get caught up in the rhetoric. But the truth is, these are not black-and-white issues. No woman’s experience is the same, and no politician should have the right to villainize any woman for the choices she has made concerning her own body.
In an effort to put faces on the subject of women’s reproductive health, we here at The Full Moxie have written about our experiences with both birth control and Planned Parenthood in order to show that these subjects are not simply fodder for a bunch of male politicians. They are highly personal subjects that affect many, if not most, of the women you know. We invite you to share your own experiences in our comments section.
Via someecards.com
Traci.
I don’t use birth control. And I have 7 kids. Let me expound.
My first of many, many trips to Planned Parenthood came in college when, as an independent young woman out in the big world for the first time all on my own, I also wanted to have complete control over my body. Startlingly, while I could absolutely control if there/when there/who would be a sexual partner, the fact remained that, in this world? Not all sexual encounters are consensual. I’m a belt and suspenders kinda gal; better to protect myself from the laws of unintended consequences. On the pill I went.
From that time, and until I had health insurance of my own, Planned Parenthood was my safety net. It’s where I procured affordable birth control; it’s where I learned I was pregnant with both my sons. And to clarify: At neither time was I offered an abortion. Hearty congratulations, yes. Offers to vacuum my uterus? Nothing close. (I was, however, accosted by anti-abortion advocates with horrifying posters who, quite frankly, totally killed the joie de vivre I felt knowing I was with child. Pro life? More like Pro-Stamping-Out-the-Life. Hey-o.)
There are many, many myths about what Planned Parenthood isn’t; I’d like to be clear about what it is: An affordable, confidential resource that allows women the ability to take control over their bodies. They offer reproductive care, sure, but also general health care; pap smears; prenatal care; breast cancer, thyroid, anemia, diabetes and high blood pressure screenings. Some clinics even offer early childhood care.
Quite simply, Planned Parenthood allows women to determine for themselves when, how or if they will start a family. That’s it. The organization doesn’t have some secret agenda to get your teenager on birth control without your knowledge, or a desire to coax young women into abortions. And while I’m on it, let’s be honest about something else: If your daughter went to a health center seeking birth control and didn’t tell you about it, it’s fairly likely she’s either having, or planning on having, sex. And if that’s the case and she didn’t feel confident talking to you, wouldn’t you rather someone arm her with knowledge and the tools she needs to keep her body free of disease and other unintended consequences? Just a thought.
Anywho … I don’t use birth control anymore because I’m married and old and my lady parts are fixed. Plus, we’re a blended family with 7 kids — duh. That’s plenty. But my daughters use Planned Parenthood. They’re young adults taking responsibility for their bodies — as they should.
Photo via Salon.com
Natali.
I was married young — age twenty. I was still in college, I worked part-time, and my husband worked two part-time jobs. We were nowhere near ready to start a family, and even with three employers, we had no real health insurance, just a temporary plan with a high deductible I bought online. The plan paid nothing towards preventative care or routine prescriptions. Planned Parenthood allowed me to receive routine gynecological care and birth control for three months at a time for the whopping fee of $10. Even I could afford $10. And definitely more than I could afford to raise a child at that time in my life.
I’m very grateful to have been able to have had access to birth control. I can’t say for sure how my life would have been different had I become a mother earlier in my life (I had my son when I was 25), but I’d venture to guess I may not have finished my degree on time (and, as the first college graduate in my immediate family, that was a pretty darn big deal).
I recently caught on to the change in policy (effective August 2012) that will ensure women will not be expected to pay out-of-pocket costs for birth control. When I saw that, I have to admit I was very relieved. Personally, it has taken me years since having my son to find a good birth control that works well with my body. In recent months, this has become monumentally important. I’ve been pregnant four times since the age of 25. Once with my son, and three times with babies we lost. Each miscarriage occurred later in pregnancy, and each was more difficult to deal with. The most recent occurred this past summer, and I required a D&C (dilation and curettage). Unfortunately, one of the risks with a D&C (the surgical procedure is required when the body doesn’t fully miscarry on its own) is infection, and I did become very sick and was hospitalized. Having experienced three very difficult losses (the last one being the most traumatic), we sought answers and discovered I have a condition that likely will not allow me to carry a baby to term. My body actually fights the developing fetus and attacks it as if it were a virus. Because of this condition, I do not want to become pregnant again. The physical and emotional toll are just far more than I can continue to take.
My birth control costs $57 per month out of pocket. There are 24 active pills in a pack, which means I pay more than $2 a day for birth control (this is with private health insurance). I am grateful that my OB/GYN has been awesome in helping me with this cost by providing samples whenever available, however, knowing that a low supply of samples in his office will not mean I get gouged at the pharmacy beginning this summer is a relief. If you’re thinking “Why doesn’t she or her husband take permanent measures to avoid future pregnancies?” well, the answer plain and simple is our health insurance has a $2,500 per person deductible. But, that’s a rant for another day.
Via PlannedParenthood.org
Heather.
Three and a half years ago, I was laid off. With the end of my full-time job came the end of my health insurance, which at first wasn’t a giant concern to me (I rarely am sick) until I realized it also meant the end of my birth control. This was when I panicked.
I use birth control. I use it in the way it’s intended because children are not in my plans. But I also use it for a reason many other women use it, a reason that gets lost amongst all the talk of morality, and the slut-shaming: it makes my periods a breeze.
I remember being a junior in high school when I found out a friend of mine had gone on the pill. She was the first of my friends to do so (that I knew about), and I reacted in the most mature way I knew how: I judged her and called her a slut. Not to her face, of course. But my friends and I knew what she’d done, and we knew the b.s. reason she gave us for her decision: she had cripplingly bad periods and the pill helped mellow them out. Yeah right, we all said to each other. We all have periods, too. Slut.
Years later, when I’d find myself sitting on the toilet, crying and clutching my abdomen in pain, bracing myself against the bathroom wall whenever a cramp gripped and twisted my insides into a knot, I thought about high school and told myself, You are a huge b***h. You deserve this.
No matter what I deserved, I didn’t put up with the pain for long. I, too, went on the pill. And it was a miracle. The pain dramatically lessened. My skin cleared up. I could pinpoint down to the hour when my period would start. So, you can see why, when the threat of my birth control going away came up after I lost my job, I lost my s***.
And that’s when a friend of mine told me about Planned Parenthood. She said that Planned Parenthood was a place for low-income, or no-income, people like me. People who needed birth control. People who needed breast or pelvic exams. People who needed STD tests. People who needed pregnancy tests. People who needed education. And yes, people who needed abortions.
Initially, I was a little apprehensive about visiting Planned Parenthood. Like most people, my only knowledge of the organization came from what I’d heard on TV: that it was an evil, evil place where babies are killed for sport. But eventually my need for birth control outweighed any concerns I had about the perceived stigma of using Planned Parenthood — thank god.
Since getting my Planned Parenthood card, I’ve visited the local office numerous times for birth control refills, breast exams, pap smears, and even for antibiotics when I once got a traumatizing infection from douching (seriously, do not douche — not ever). If it was not for Planned Parenthood, none of these services would have been available to me. I owe them a huge debt of gratitude (and a sizable donation whenever I have the means).
If one good thing came out of the mess with the Komen organization, it’s that those of us who have depended on Planned Parenthood for years are finally coming out of the woodwork to share our stories, and to help combat the damage that is being done to women everywhere by a bunch of talking heads in Washington who have no firsthand knowledge about the subjects on which they’re pinning their campaigns.
If you’d like to learn more about Planned Parenthood, or make a donation, visit Planned Parenthood.org.
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Great post, guys! And I’m grateful to Heather for pointing out that birth control pills are a lifesaver for many women who have to deal with unbearably painful periods. Starting in high school, I had debilitating cramps that landed me in the nurses office at school or home in bed writhing in pain every single month. I suffered for years before finding out that birth control pills help with cramps, probably because it would have been considered improper for anyone to encourage a teenager to start using birth control pills for any reason. I was 19 and living on my own for the first time without health insurance when I did find out that the pills would help with the pain. The doctors at Planned Parenthood became my source of information and health care. In addition to helping enormously with my cramps (I was able to stop taking the prescription pain meds that I had started in high school), I was forced to keep up with annual health exams because the doctor wouldn’t renew my prescription unless I had a yearly pap smear. There’s no way I would have kept up with annual exams (which at Planned Parenthood were fairly comprehensive and always included breast exams) if it weren’t for Planned Parenthood because I had no health insurance and because I was young and preventative health care just wouldn’t have been a priority for me at that time. For me, Planned Parenthood was a godsend. The staff and doctors took great care of me for years and I’ll always be thankful.
Thanks for the comment, Nicole, and for sharing your story!
This is interesting for me because I actually have done a lot of research on Planned Parenthood since I am very passionate about my feelings on abortion and don’t like to talk out of my rear about things that I know nothing about! I have read research books, books about PP’s history and beginnings and books written by women about their own experiences. I have always been careful not to donate money to organizations that in turn donate to PP because I don’t support abortion and fact of the matter is, they are the largest provider of abortions in the world. I absolutely understand that many women need their services – especially birth control and annual health care because health insurance just isn’t available or doesn’t cut it for many women. I have taken birth control since I was 18 for health reasons first and foremost, and am thankful to have had insurance to cover that. I absolutely understand if a woman needs these things. However, I would like to be able to choose not to support a service that I have very strong feelings about. Whether we like it or not, it is a moral issue for some people and we can’t deny that. I’m definitely not going to bash anyone over the head for choosing abortion or any other service they offer for that matter, but I also want to have the choice to not financially support it. If my money is supporting PP, it’s supporting all of PP. My cousin (and all extended family on both my side and my husband’s side) have strong catholic beliefs and practice natural family planning so they choose not to use birth control. I respectfully disagree with their stance and they with mine. So there’s my dilemma. I don’t want to sound like one of the “talking heads” in DC that are just men who don’t understand women. I’m a woman who thinks for herself and I too want a choice…
I agree with not supporting something you oppose. I feel the same way about choices I make. Out of curiosity, have you verified that neither your OB/GYN’s practice, nor your insurance provider, performs nor supports abortion services? Do you consider your insurance payments (a pool where all costs are shared across a broad spectrum of individuals) and whether the plan you pay for supports those services, in the same, well-researched fashion? I’m wondering if there is such a provider/plan. Clearly there are many people who feel that same way.
My understanding is that the 3% of public funding that does go towards “abortion services” at Planned Parenthood goes towards counseling and follow up to minimize risk of infection, however patients must pay for actual abortions through either private insurance or out of pocket. Public funding (title X funds) have to be carefully managed and proved not to fund the abortions themselves.
I read on Politifact that 3% of the total number of services they provide are abortion-related, the other 90% being preventative in nature. More interesting info here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/apr/08/jon-kyl/jon-kyl-says-abortion-services-are-well-over-90-pe/
I was grateful to planned parenthood as a young person who wanted to be responsible and take careful measures to avoid getting pregnant. They were always extremely kind and respectful. Thankfully for the last several years I have had health insurance through my employer and can afford to purchase my birth control, since my husband and I have absolutely no plans to have children. I take comfort in knowing that if for some reason in the future I lose my health insurance, I can again turn to planned parenthood to keep me protected until I can get on another plan. I am a huge supporter of planned parenthood and everything they do for women and families. Great column, ladies. Thanks for sharing.
I had a big response typed out, then deleted it.
Short and sweet is better I think. Is there a way to forward this on to certain groups fighting this mandate?
I am glad to see this article. Lately, my wall has been a barrage of anti-PP posts by people who are passionately pro-life. They don’t even feel rape is a good enough reason to have an abortion. That is their opinion and I respect all opinions but don’t want to be hounded on a daily basis to try to change my pro-choice stance. These people don’t realize that they are speaking to a large group and some have actually made the decision to terminate a pregnancy. And calling someone a murderer isn’t going to open my ears to their plight. I did at 19. I was in a long term relationship, was in college and frankly was told my health couldn’t handle carrying the baby to term. My decision was based on the fact that I would have a stroke and if the baby would have severe defects. Point being, not everyone has abortions because they are too lazy for birth control ( I actually conceived while on birth control) The pros of PP outweigh the cons in my opinion. And nobody should have the right to determine someone else’s rights regarding their bodies despite their personal beliefs. The issue I see is, if abortion is made illegal, there will be so many children born to parents who can’t/won’t care for them and end up in the system. And as much as adoption is an option, our country makes it very hard to adopt. This is why so many people go to other countries for adoptions. I am all for finding a solution to all the aforementioned problems, but right now I don’t see good coming out of pulling the plug on services that assist so many women and children leaving them to fend for themselves.