This is definitely going to be a multiple post sort of day. I am so excited that so many have become so active in regards to Susan G Komen’s abandonment of Planned Parenthood. For years we have let the anti-choice chauvinists (of all genders) hog the microphone. They have, for my entire lifetime, bully browbeat pro-choice advocates into a position of meek disagreement.
It’s not that Planned Parenthood, and the pro-choice movement have been silent. They advocate on their behalf and manage to motivate some supporters. Most folks, however, have been silent until now. Which is sad because despite how much the Rick Santorums of the world try to convince us otherwise, the vast majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal at least in some cases. Even those that think it should always be legal outnumber those that think it never should, albeit by a fairly small margin. We have let the other side cow us into silence and I say no more.
I say no more because frankly the abortion issue, while important, is just the tip of the iceberg. This is an all out assault on women, particularly poor women, by those that still don’t value women equally with men. Sadly some of those people are women and how they live with themselves is beyond me. The bulk of Planned Parenthood’s work deals with women’s health issues other than abortion. Many poor women absolutely rely on them and they have saved lives.
That is what this boils down to: poor women. You can bet that the wealthy, those women who made this decision on SGK’s part, will get their breast exams, their pap smears, and their birth control. The latter, for themselves and their daughters, despite railing against it. When Margaret Sanger started her crusade almost one hundred years ago it was after being begged by women to “teach her rich women’s secrets” to not ending up pregnant and having a half dozen or more children. The wealthy averaged two, interesting number for those that advocated against birth control. The poor women in this country were baby factories and little more and there are elements in our culture who would like to see a return to that.
It is great that so many have been motivated to sign petitions, post their support on social networks and call their elected representatives in the aftermath of this attack. We have to keep at it though. The newly minted, anti-choice leadership at Susan G Komen is not the only threat to Planned Parenthood or women’s health in general. So keep signing, keep tweeting, keep e-mailing and keep your voices heard!
