It’s Not About Abortion – It’s About Life

Posted on by under education, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, religion, Social commentary

Yesterday, Planned Parenthood announced that it would withdraw from the federal family planning program known as Title X.  The Title X Family Planning program was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Title X is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services. The Title X program is designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies, and information to all who want and need them. By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Trump’s hand-picked Alex Azar, attached a new condition on receiving Title X funding – that the recipients, such as Planned Parenthood, can no longer make abortion referrals.  This, my friends, is nothing more than the federal government attempting to inflict the beliefs of the Christian evangelical community, a vocal minority of the population, on everyone in the nation.  It is an attempt to make religious beliefs into public policy.  It is a huge step away from being the secular nation that we started out to be, that we need to be.

But let’s be clear … while the intent may be to deprive a woman of the right to have an abortion, this is not about abortion.  This is not about whether a woman has a right to decide what is right for her, in some cases having an abortion.  This is about whether a woman has a right to live or not.  Planned Parenthood is not just about helping a woman get an abortion, and in fact that is a very small percentage of what they do.

planned-parenthood-servicesAs you can see, money spent on providing abortions is a mere 3% of their total, AND … NO FEDERAL MONIES are spent on abortion.  Now, look at some of the other things they do …

  • STD and HIV testing and treatment
  • Birth control
  • Screening for reproductive cancers (like breast, cervical, testicular, and prostate cancers)
  • Pap tests and well woman exams
  • Vaccines
  • PrEP and PEP (medicines to help prevent HIV)
  • Pregnancy services and prenatal care
  • Transgender health services, including hormone replacement therapy (HRT)
  • Vasectomy and other sterilization services
  • Condoms

Planned Parenthood saves lives.  In many rural areas, they are the only provider of the above services that may save a woman’s life.  Or a man’s, for you may note they also do screening for testicular and prostate cancers.  They provide prenatal care … the anti-abortion group might do well to consider that they are robbing that fetus they care so much about of such things as the vitamins to ensure they are healthy, and regular screenings to detect any potential problems that might be avoided with timely treatment.

Evangelicals have been calling for the government to ‘de-fund’ Planned Parenthood for decades, but instead of de-funding it, the government set a criteria that they could no longer make abortion referrals.  Planned Parenthood said, in essence, “Okay, keep your money then … for there are times that a woman’s life and health depend on abortion.”

There’s a certain irony here, too, that a large portion of what Planned Parenthood does involves birth control and family planning education, both of which significantly lower the need for abortions, and yet those who claim to be “pro-life” are depriving women of those services as well.

I do not applaud Planned Parenthood’s decision, but I do support it … it was the right thing for them to do.  However, I do not support the government’s imposition of the criteria, I do not support the evangelicals who coerced the government into setting the criteria.  Those evangelicals call themselves “pro-life”, but they are not.  They are not considering the lives of the thousands of women who rely on Planned Parenthood for birth control, annual checkups, family planning services, and much more.

There will be backlash over this.  I do not know what the end result will be, but somehow, we must continue to fund Planned Parenthood.  They do not provide abortions with Title X funds, but only with private funding.  They provide a tremendous service to women, they save lives of both babies and mothers, and they are an integral part of women’s healthcare, especially among lower income women.

I came across a short video on Scottie’s Toybox that I think explains the issue quite well … please take a minute or two … well, actually 7 minutes, but it is well worth the time spent.

Are we going to be held hostage in other areas by the evangelicals?  Are we going to let them dictate, for example, that there must be mandatory religious classes in schools?  Are we going to let them tell us that it is okay for employers to discriminate against LGBT people?  The United States is, appropriately, a secular nation, not as some would believe, a Christian nation.  Twenty-five percent, fully one-fourth of this nation are non-Christians.  We are Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists and agnostics.  We have a voice, too.  We pay taxes, too.  We contribute our skills and ideas as much as any.  And 50.52% of this nation are women.  We pay taxes and have a voice, too.

Abortion is not the root of all evil.  Often a woman has an abortion because she is unable to provide for her child.  The world is already over-populated and the last thing we need are more hungry mouths to feed.  Those same people who call for an end to all abortions, also fight against their tax dollars going to help feed and shelter those children once they are born.  Pro-life???  I don’t think so … just anti-women.  If you ever doubted that it’s still a man’s world, doubt no more.mans world

81 thoughts on “It’s Not About Abortion – It’s About Life”

  1. Two points:
    1. How come it’s women who have to bear the burden of last resort birth control. The Pill, Morning After-Pill and Abortion, all of which cause turbulence to their bodies as well as distress no man can imagine (The *%8@ a man can imagine what an abortion is like!). Uh? ‘Oh toucheth not our male parts! Oooh the very thought is making mine shrivel…where’s my tape measure???’
    2. Some years back socially minded Catholic organisations (there’s this ‘thing’ called Catholic Social Teaching- the very title would make the Trump inflators quiver in rage) started to drift in with the Evangelicals public pressure groups, then found out they didn’t give a happy damn about the woman’s welfare, drifted away again.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Why, you ask? Because some men still live in the dark ages where women are considered to have been put on earth for a man’s pleasure. In fact, some religious sects still promote that idea. Remember not too long ago when I wrote about the woman who was going to divorce her husband because he was abusive, and the minister told her to get the notion of divorce out of her head and submit to her husband as the bible told her to do? Sheesh. Got my blood boiling. It was a short 99 years ago that women in this country got the right to vote! Some women today still let their husband tell them how to vote … yes, truth … I know some of them!

      I sometimes think some of these men who want to control our lives might fare well by a visit from Lorena Bobbitt … remember her? And now, you probably really want that tape measure, eh? Don’t worry, I wouldn’t send her to you … you’re a good man.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Yes see, these are not True Men, these are dick-obessed weaklings of not real value.
        True Men accept Women as their partners upon this Earth (God, but when you made Adam he was intially a whinger!), share the burdens and get on with the tasks at hand (We do, however, reserve the right to use bad words when mechncical devices do not work as we would wish, and the observe that instruction books were written by several monkeys under the influence of strong drink)
        How could I ever forget Lorena Bobbitt 😉
        (The couple seemed to have reconciled on a social level, another case of a lesson well learned)

        Liked by 2 people

  2. I was going to comment, but others have beaten me to it! I have always bemoaned the fact that folks equate Planned Parenthood with abortion. As you note, the two are NOT the same. By no means. Let’s hope this tangled mess is straightened out by the next president.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Hello Jill. I goofed when I added the video. I thought I was adding a video from the TYT network. I did not check and it was not until Scott replied I realized what I had done. Please remove the video if you get a chance. I will double check my work better in the future. Hugs

    Liked by 1 person

      • Hello Jill. I felt foolish this morning when I seen what I did. I couldn’t believe I added the very video of the post. I was thinking how silly I must have looked. I really thought I had added a video from the Young Turks show. Anyway I felt it was disrespectful to you, and showed me to be…not on the ball so to speak. Thanks again for understanding. Hugs

        Liked by 1 person

        • Hey Scottie! Guess what? You’re human, my friend! That means that sometimes you make a mistake … I’ve made my share and some extra! I didn’t think you silly at all, and neither did Scott … he was only asking because he couldn’t see the picture, else he would have known it was the same. You were not disrespectful, and neither I nor anybody else thought you were! Now chill, my friend! Stop kicking yourself around, or I will have to come down there and bop you upside the head, and make you and Ron take me out to dinner! 😊 Hugs!!!

          Liked by 1 person

  4. Thank you for posting this, Jill. And, thanks to all who’ve commented. My personal bottom line is that the state (or church) should not be involved at all. It is a woman’s right to make the decision. Period. Kudos to Planned Parenthood.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I am 100% in agreement with your bottom line! People don’t seem to realize that it is, at best, an agonizing decision for a woman, and the religious community and now the government are making it even worse. Some states have passed such restrictive abortion laws that if enforced, could send a woman to prison for years simply for having an abortion. I am so disgusted by this all. Thanks for sharing your views … you are spot on!

      Liked by 2 people

  5. Jill, a few years ago, the state of Colorado did a data analysis of the impact of family planning and birth control means and education. Their findings were these efforts reduced state-wide health care costs, reduced poverty and reduced the number of abortions. If evangelicals want to reduce abortions, the answer is more family planning and birth control means and education, not less. Teens and unmarried adults are going to have sex – that us a given. Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • What logic, eh? That’s why Planned Parenthood is so valuable … the family planning assistance, birth control, education. If everyone were given those advantages, the need for abortions would be almost nil. As you say, hormones … people are going to have sex … expecting abstinence is like asking an elephant to be tiny! Back in the 70s when I was taking birth control pills, they cost me $2.25 per month. Now, they are over $50 per month. A single mum with a minimum wage job cannot afford that, but the same evangelicals who want to end abortions have also declared war on insurance companies helping provide birth control. They can’t have their cake and eat it too, as my mother used to say.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Jill, I have long been an advocate of holistic sex education. Abstinence can be taught as part of it, but given those hormones, it is key to teach that sex does not create self-esteem, how to say no and that no means no (and be uttered at any time before the act occurs).

        Also, birth control options and how to use them are key. I have shared before a friend said she was often approached by girls in her church for straight answers to questions like “I heard that you could not get pregnant on the first time, is that true?” Or, “I heard you could not get pregnant if you have sex standing up?” True story.

        Keith

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Nearly all of Trump and his corrupt administration’s decisions are invalid and unconstitutional! We already have “separation of church and state”, which is the underlying intent and function of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution which reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

    I just don’t see how the gov’t have the right to dictate what a sovereign individual should do with their own body, short of hurting anyone else. Silly me, I thought the Republican Party represents smaller gov’t with LESS intervention/ interference on our individual rights! What a bunch of hypocrites.

    Lol, that vintage poster says it all…. patriarchal power over women.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Hello 1EarthUnited. I agree with you. However there has been a real concentrated attack on the idea of separation of church and state for decades. And they are winning due to the fact they are homeschooling kids to think that way and they push their people in to government positions. Like Mike Pompeo. I remember when Ron and I took an abused local boy under our wing, we went to calling him our son. In his years at a christian school his parents insisted he attend ( while they abused him ) he would spend his after school time with us in our home and his weekends off school in our home. They flat out lied to him about our history and how much religion had to due with the US. They constantly misinformed him and his class about how much religion and their version of god had to do with making the US, and they flat out claimed the founding fathers were of their religion, wanted this to be a Christian nation under their god, ( and us bad horrible heathens were preventing this wonderful out come ) and gave examples of how Moses himself set up our legal system and how those not of their religion were destroying our nation by not following their god.. So Ron and I sat down with him in front of the computer and showed him how what he was being taught was wrong. He was a smart kid, at first he tried to argue, but the more he read and absorbed the more he admitted they were lying to him. Here was the problem, he was still a minor of wack out parents who put him in this school. To pass he had to answer the tests in the way they wanted students to. He would come to our home angry at that a fact he had to lie to get a good grade. I am proud to say he is today a grand young man, totally divorced from his former forced religion and is investigating other ways to explain what his school told him was the acts of god. He is really a good young man, but so many in his place do not do as well. Religion can poison everything if is allowed to. Hugs Scottie

      Liked by 6 people

      • Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. I do agree with you that organized religion (created by men with many human frailties) tend to fall short when it comes to spirituality b/c it’s basic premise is to push a specific agenda. Those who wish to belong must succumb to indoctrination and ritual which strays from the fundamental principle of love, tolerance, brotherhood, compassion, unity, forgiveness… or simply being a decent person who can empathize with our fellow man…. since we’re all not perfect, a little kindness and understanding can go a long way.
        Biggest problem is Evangelicals influencing and dictating policy to the gov’t which they have absolutely no business doing. After all, most gov’ts of the world don’t dictate state policy to churches, mosques, synagogues, temples… so why do Christians feel they have the right to influence gov’t policies which affect others of different belief and faith?? Evangelicals seem to lack empathy and seeing wider perspective, other’s POV.
        I’m glad to hear you did such a fine job instilling reason in the young man, showing the hypocrisy of religious institutions. It’s best to free a mind and allow a person to be an authentic individual, who can make their own mature rational decisions in life. Cutting wheat from the chaff as the old adage goes.

        Liked by 5 people

      • In some ways, she’s right … the GOP has long been for a smaller, less intrusive government. But, funny thing is they want a bigger military (arms manufacturers are big GOP donors, you know). But, what they want to cut is humanitarian spending, such as health care, housing and food for the poor, civil rights, etc. They want to cherry pick what areas of government will be cut, largely those that we most need, those that serve the 99% instead of the upper 1% of the nation.

        Liked by 3 people

    • Under Trump, the ‘separation of church and state’ has been chipped away at. Remember his “religious freedom” conference and committee? Remember the court’s Hobby Lobby decision? The Trump administration has been supporting the requests of the evangelicals … of which Mike Pence is one … more and more, and the lines are becoming blurred. The evangelicals comprise approximately 17% of the population, so why should they be able to snap their fingers and get their way? Because, they are the core of Trump’s base.

      Liked by 4 people

      • Jill, I agree it’s all for political gain. This shortsighted narrow-minded imbecile doesn’t get the office of president, and what responsibilities it entails. Like you said, being a President means addressing the concerns of ALL citizens, esp the ones who are disenfranchised and hurting. This moron caters to the wealthy and privileged, the class who doesn’t need help. That’s the very essence of corruption in my book. What worse is he hoodwinks those who support him at the detriment of their own well being! I thinking Evangelicals are as corrupt as any politician. Why else would they follow a despot like Trump???

        Liked by 1 person

  7. If the vast majority of funds for planned parenthood go to all of these other services, why did they decide not to continue accepting the title x money? Aren’t they, in a very real sense, jeopardizing the lives of the women they claim to want to help by walking away from this money over something that supposedly isn’t a big part of their service provisions in the first place?

    Someone please explain this to me without invoking all of the stereotypical antiwoman sentiments because that’s not where my question is coming from.

    They’re still getting the 500 million dollars from medicade and for such an organization, 70 million is nothing and a couple of democrat billionaires could give them the money instead of hoarding it all. What do you say?

    Liked by 1 person

    • My own male take on this, Scott, is that abortion is a real part of planned parenthood services. Women’s health, physical, mental, and financial, all depend on having the option to abort a fetus open to them. I don’t think of it as a form of birth control, and I don’t think most people do either. I won’t say there aren’t some who treat it that way, but in my experience most do not. Abortion is a viable option for rapes, harmful pregnancies, particular family situations, and more. Moreover, SAFE abortions have to be available, coathangers and other cruel surgeries or strong laxative-type drugs do not do favours for anyone who is determined to have an abotion. Fetuses are not yet people, no matter what anyone tells us. Natural abortions happen right up to the time of birth. If nature knows what it is doing, who are we to force human beliefs on half the people of this world.

      Liked by 4 people

    • Hello Scott. The answer is very simple. The government was requiring them to lie by not offering all the options available to the patient. Think of it this way, if you went to your doctor with a problem and the doctor couldn’t tell you things that would help you due to the laws and legal situation. Almost all of the restrictive requirements on abortion clinics require the doctors to lie to the woman requesting medical advice. Is there any way to interpret this differently?
      As for the reason they discontinued to agree to follow the new restrictions is clear. The services they offer are far more in scope than the new rule would stop, however that would require PPFA to lie to patients as to their options medically. Is that what you really want, doctors forced to lie to their patients as to what is best for them?

      Liked by 3 people

      • Hi there. Was that the video which Jill referenced in the original post or a different one? If it’s the same one, I’ll give that a listen since I now have quiet time. If it’s a different one, can you repost the link as my adaptive software didn’t read me a link if there was one.

        Doctors and providers of medical services should not lie to their patients, that would be horrible. There is already such a lack of transparency in the medical field as it is, no need to add to that.

        The government shouldn’t even be involved with this issue at all, no matter which side or who is in charge, just as they shouldn’t be involved with things like marriage. none of that is the business of federal authorities.

        that’s just my opinion though.

        Liked by 3 people

        • Was that the video which Jill referenced in the original post or a different one?

          It is the same video.

          And I agree with Scottie. It is about whether the PP doctors should deliberately lie to patients. PP says no, and that’s why they are withdrawing. I support their decision.

          Liked by 2 people

        • Same video … I had never heard of Beau before, but I really like him. He’s plain-spoken, down to earth, but knows what he’s talking about and uses facts … a rarity these days! Listen to the video … I think you’ll like it.

          Liked by 1 person

        • Hello Scott. Yes I goofed. I thought I was added a different one. Jill please remove it and sorry for the goof. I was trying to add one from the TYT network. I agree that medical care should be between the doctor and the PT. I use to have medications that worked great for me with little side effects, but due to the state of Florida getting in the middle my doctors can not prescribe the medications now. Hugs

          Liked by 1 person

        • It is a worthy opinion, Scott, but yet the practice by a republican government of embroiling itself in non-governmental issues seems to put the lie to Trump’s reign of terror. As I understand it, republicans want less government than more, but yet here we are with Trump’s fingers in every pie he can sniff out. He is so unRepublican it hurts. But his political party-goers want to remain in power so bad they are letting him do anything he wants. Their political stances are suddenly anything Trump says goes.

          Liked by 3 people

          • Hello Rawgod. Republicans want smaller government when the can use the lack of rules and oversight to rake in more profit, yet they want a lot more government when it comes to regulating what non-wealthy can do with their bodies. Especially they want government control over the bodies of women. They keep saying they want government out of people’s lives while at the same time demanding the government make laws against the LGBTQ and giving the government control over a woman’s medicare. Hugs

            Liked by 2 people

            • Only rich men are to have the freedom to do whatever they want to whomever they want. Think Jake Epstein, or whatever his name was. He didn’t care who he used or how he abused them, and he flaunted that amongst the rich of the world. They happily closed their eyes and hearts and took bodily pleasures from young sex-slaves who could not say no. Now they are dreading that these stories somehow come out. Prince Andrew can deny all he wants, and so can D’JidioT. We know they were involved in that sick world.
              Now they want to use women in different ways! They are a bunch of hypocrites!

              Liked by 2 people

    • I see that Jerry and Scottie have answered your question … sorry I’m late to the game, but it’s been a hectic day for me and I’m just now getting around to comments. Both of them are correct, and I would only add that it is manipulative on the part of the government, and that neither churches nor the government should have the right to decide whether a woman can have an abortion. Abortion is not something a woman takes lightly … she soul searches for a long time, and only decides on abortion if there are valid reasons that she cannot have a child, or if her life is in danger. And then, it’s a decision that will haunt her for the rest of her life. It’s not anybody else’s place to tell her what she must do. Yes, Planned Parenthood has plenty of other sources of funding, but there is a principal involved here, in attempting to manipulate doctors and force them to lie to their patients because some other people think something is wrong. As I have always said … if somebody doesn’t believe in abortion, then they don’t have to have one … nobody is forcing them. But they don’t make the rules for the rest of us. Sigh. Hugs, my friend.

      Liked by 4 people

  8. Whichever Democrat gets in in 2020 is really going to have to come down hard on the evangelicals and force them to close their child care offices which are not inclusive. If churches want a say in things it’s time they paid taxes.
    Cwtch

    Liked by 3 people

    • Another thing I have been saying in various ways for years. Their produce, lies and beliefs and christians, cost absolutely nothing. Their expenses are what they want them to be. Their profit margin is 100%. And yet they think they deserve to not pay taxes. Who are they trying to screw around? They have the best of all worlds, but they still want more.
      Let them pay for all for all the services that Planned Parenthood is now providing. Okay, we’ll let them off with the abortion counselling, they do a poor job of that anyway. But they want kids to be born, make them pay to give the children good lives.

      Liked by 4 people

    • Fully agree … and another thing that has come to light recently is that apparently the evangelical-run adoption centers have been placing some of the immigrant children who were taken from their families, up for adoption to white evangelical families! They weren’t orphans! They have parents … but the U.S. government didn’t bother to write down who the parents were, so they can’t figure it all out, so they give them to the evangelicals to adopt out! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
      Cwtch

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Some say that religion is the root of all evil. And that evangelical Christians should never cast the first stone, for they are filled with sin. All I know is that I turned my back on organised religions years ago.
    Thanks Jill ❤❤❤

    Liked by 5 people

  11. Hello Jill. Grand post. Thank you for the shout out. Beau has some really great videos. His voice is easy to listen to and he gives facts and reasoning that makes you think. The evangelical’s goal has always been the complete control over a woman’s body and sexual expressions. Men are not held accountable for sex but they believe a woman should be. The feeling of a woman shouldn’t have sex unless she is willing to have a baby says nothing about the man? Shouldn’t he be willing to shoulder the burden of a baby as well? Instead as with most things men do not want to deal with , it is regulated as a woman’s job. Be well. Hugs

    Liked by 3 people

    • Thanks, Scottie! I meant to give you a heads-up that I was ‘borrowing’ your video and make sure it was okay with you, but I got busy and forgot … I’m sorry. his is the first time, I think, that I have seen one of Beau’s videos, but he impresses me! He speaks plainly and truthfully, has his facts in order, and pulls no punches. I will be checking out more of his! Sigh. Yeah, as I said, it’s still a man’s world. Women have had to fight for every single right, including the right to make decisions about our own bodies … it just isn’t fair. I think we should legislate to make Viagra and Cialis illegal … see how the guys like that! My daughter is head nurse for a large urology practice and she tells me it is incredible the number of men who come in for those prescriptions. And … their insurance pays a portion, whereas the evangelicals are trying to stop insurance companies paying for birth control. Justice? I think not. Hugs!!!

      Liked by 2 people

      • that was an interesting video and he does seem reasonable and level headed, something we need more of in our further fracturing political climate.

        Another good one I like is Dave Rubin of the Rubin report, I hope I’m spelling that right as I’m doing it from memory.

        He’s a classical liberal gay commedian as well and his interviews run the gammit from talking to people on both sides of the isle.

        Liked by 2 people

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