Planned Parenthood's government funding cut

Pretty sure that's a topic worthy of its own discussion, but let's dive in anyway.

There are four major ways to avoid having a kid:

• Abstinence (or the way that no one wants since every needs to get it on)
• Contraceptive (or the "You mean there's something better than condoms?")
• Abortion (berserk button issue, happy joy joy)
• Twisting the tubes (keeps you from getting pregnant ever, kind of an unpopular choice for obvious reasons)

Statistics basically say that in the United States, poor class society members and teenagers are the likely candidates for getting pregnant without having the ability to care for the child properly (and more so, the poor class people have a tendency to have more kids, more on that later).

First off, abstinence is out the door in most cases because let's be honest, people want to have sex. It feels good for a reason. However, many individuals are unaware of alternate methods. Abortion is pretty well known thanks to the controversy involved, but say, a pill that can be gotten over the counter? It's treated as a minor detail in many sex ed classes (if mentioned at all) and most people don't even know of such a pill's existence.

This, combined with the fact that, yeah, the people who typically can't afford to go to school (and thus work jobs instead to stay fed) don't have the time or resources to find out this information will ultimately end up in a downward spiral. As I mentioned earlier, it's rather common trend to see poor families have several kids while middle class and upper class families will have at most two. With more kids, you need more money to support them, something you don't have if you're poor, resulting in aforementioned downward spiral. Even if you do know where to get an abortion, most only have the first time free and after that it gets expensive, fast. And removing this office is only going to result in more teenage pregnancies as well as more middle class problems with this topic.

Regardless of your side on the abortion issue, a lack of education in the matter is a major problem.

edited 6th Mar '11 10:49:06 AM by Usht

Abstinence (or the way that no one wants since every needs to get it on)

Bullshit. First, there's Asexuals, and then there's people like me who just have no interest in it.

I'm glad you're not part of the problem then. We're talking about those who have the potential and willingness to get pregnant or impregnate someone else.

Planned Parenthood would be far less hated if they did not provide abortions. Giving tax dollars to an organization that provides abortions is clearly a boondoggle and needs to go. If PP cares about their services to the poor and indigent that much, then let them stop providing abortions and appeal for reinstatement of the funding.

Won't work. It's a culture war issue, which means that the Republicans will not be satisfied until the organization is wiped out entirely.

Because every republican is a crazy fundie neocon.

Ivy, stop making up bullshit.

Won't work. It's a culture war issue, which means that the Republicans will not be satisfied until the organization is wiped out entirely.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but last I checked, it wasn't wiped out during the last time the house was Republican controlled. You know there are such a thing as non-elitist, non-extremist republicans that make up the majority of the people in the party right? And you know that the democrats are not all sex craving spenders under the age of 25, right?

edited 6th Mar '11 11:11:01 AM by Usht

You know there are such a thing as non-elitist, non-extremist republicans that make up the majority of the people in the party right?

Then why are they letting the wacko wingnuts call the tune? Why aren't they the ones standing up and saying "Hey now...for every dollar PP gets, we save four down the line"? Why are they letting those freaks steal their voice?

@Karalora: Because sometimes the wingnuts get shit done for them. Unfortunately, letting stuff like this happen means that they will vote with you on another topic. And it seems they have to present a face of implacability to the opposition.

It's because there are no non-crazy Republicans. If you follow in lockstep with a movement, it is inevitable that their values become your own.

edited 6th Mar '11 11:21:36 AM by EnglishIvy

@Ivy: Amending your statement: There are no non-crazy republicans that the news listens to.

Just as much as there are wingnuts in the GOP, there are moonbats in the Democratic side. generalizing every political group does not help at all.

Have you ever heard the old joke, "Democrats fall in love, while Republicans fall in line"? Or 'I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat'? Yeah.

edited 6th Mar '11 11:24:07 AM by EnglishIvy

Getting off topic. Back to PP and less about why you think Republicans suck. We've got a topic over in Yack Fest for that.

Ivy: And just like that, I have lost every single bit off respect I ever once had for you.

Please, just stop talking.

I'm really not sure if the logic "crazy Republicans occasionally do good stuff for the sane ones, so the sane ones let the crazy ones take center stage" is helping their case.

/shrug

Sort of seconding Ivy's sentiment here. I'm sick of the religious right shoving their morals on me too.

Move it to a different topic, please. It's quite annoying when militant liberals decide to be just as noisy as the militant conservatives you know and this still isn't the topic for that sort of discussion.

Indeed. Take the D/R battles elsewhere. While it may be linked to the topic, it is linked only tangentially. Now, I'm not read up on Planned Parenthood, but I do remember someone, possibly DG, saying how they got examinations at PP for free or for very low cost without insurance having to cover it.

Is there a replacement plan that the government has in place to allow low cost examinations like this?

Republicans were swayed by the religious right to completely cut funding to a service that has done nothing wrong. The majority of them have never even provided abortion procedures, and provide low cost birth control and gyno exams.

The religious right is against this for moral reasons, because they want people like me (poor females) to die. Same reason why they keep pushing for cuts to welfare.

Edit: Yeah, that was me. I have a condition that makes me bleed continually unless I'm on hormonal birth control to regulate my cycle. If it hadn't been for Planned Parenthood, I quite literally would have slowly bled to death.

edited 6th Mar '11 11:50:20 AM by DrunkGirlfriend

That's the sort of thing I'd suggest telling your representative and senators, especially if they're Republicans. It might not help, but it certainly can't hurt. You elected them, after all, even if you didn't vote for them. The least they can do is listen to what you have to say.

Oh, I have. It's just that the media and those conservative morons have convinced the general public that Planned Parenthood is evil and does nothing but abort babies all day long.

If you can't tell the difference between "sex is evil" and "poor women should die" as motives, I'm inclined to believe the mental deficiencies are on your end.

Nah, I'm pretty sure they want poor people to die, because if it was just the sex then they wouldn't be trying to cut other social services too.

Democracy is more or less working correctly in this instance. The point of democracy is to hamper significantly controversial issues while allowing issues with popular support to go through smoothly. The problem in this case is that far less non-controversial issues, like birth control, are weighed down by a single controversial issue because they're dealt with under the same organizational umbrella. If abortion funding is so problematic, it should be separated entirely from non-abortion government services until such a time as people are largely ready to support abortion (if that time ever comes). A minor tweak in organization would go a long way to easing a lot of people's minds on the subject.

Democracy is more or less working correctly in this instance. The point of democracy is to hamper significantly controversial issues while allowing issues with popular support to go through smoothly.

Ah...what did you snort before posting that? Democracy hasn't "worked correctly" since...well...ever. It isn't about public service anymore, its about who has the most money and who yells the loudest. PP's funding was cut because the idea of sex ed makes conservatives nervous, and they squawked about it for long enough and greased the right palms.

No, it's still elective majority. Those in the house were elected by the general population in each state and those representatives are taking a vote on what to do about PP funding. Can't help it if you decided to skip out on voting for more than just who's president and ended up with a very republican house.

edited 6th Mar '11 12:23:58 PM by Usht