Ever since I started this blog I figured that one day I would talk about Planned Parenthood. In the wake of the awful shooting that occurred at the Planned Parenthood in Colorado this weekend, apparently today is that day.

I am not even sure where to begin with this post. Do I start by explaining that not every person who enters a Planned Parenthood is seeking an abortion and therefore the people who died inside the building were probably there for regular check-ups? Should I talk about the fact that the stigma behind abortions is archaic, puritanical, and ultimately tied into society’s fear of a woman’s vagina and everything that comes out of there? Or should I talk about the fact this shooting was a response to the fear-mongering being encouraged by the conservative party during the much-too-long presidential race?

I am so tired of hearing about the “selling baby parts” videos, how PP is nothing but “baby killers,” and all sorts of nonsense that is just utterly false. No matter what your stance is on abortion, your stance on PP should not reflect that. Why? Because they provide SO MUCH MORE than just abortions. I know there’s the whole discrepancy of “is it 3% or 94%” in regards to the number of abortion procedures they perform, and whether it is 3% or not, it certainly isn’t 94%. Planned Parenthood does pap smears, breast exams, STD testing, STD treating, etc. They are affordable healthcare for women (and serve a high number of women from low-income households), but just because they also provide abortions that’s a reason to damn the entire organization?

I have been to a Planned Parenthood several times. Was it ever to get an abortion? No. I have gone for annual check-ups, birth control prescriptions/refills, and once for an STD testing. I chose to go to a Planned Parenthood because since 2006 I have either been a student or a recent graduate and I needed healthcare that was affordable. All of the men out there who are so against Planned Parenthood – have you ever purchased birth control? Have you ever seen what it takes to even get a prescription? Let me tell you, it is not easy. In fact, I could go out a buy a gun a hell of a lot faster than getting a new Nuva Ring.

For starters, heaven forbid you move around the country trying to find a decent place to live and work. Every time I moved to a new city I had to switch pharmacies, usually find a totally new doctor, and go through the entire birth control consultation, pap smear, and prescription process again because no one could just prescribe me birth control.

See the full 100% accurate video here.

Then there were the waiting periods. I lived and worked on an island for 6 months and had to leave the island in order to get my birth control. I was working two jobs at the time and only got one day off a week so I had to time that day off perfectly so that I could go to a pharmacy on the mainland and get my birth control. If I was a day too early then they wouldn’t give it to me. “It’s against the law,” one pharmacist told me and said I could only have the birth control at about twice the cost of what I’d normally get it for.

And speaking of cost – before the Affordable Care Act, birth control was not cheap. Back in college my birth control started at $20/month and then slowly rose until I was paying $50/month. $50?! That is more than a Netflix and Hulu subscription combined. Before the Affordable Care Act I even spent one year paying $70/month. When I started moving about the country trying to find a job, you know who was there to help me out with my birth control costs and didn’t make me go through what felt like an FBI background check every time I needed a refill? Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood has always been full of helpful, kind nurses, who calmed my fears when I went in thinking I had contracted some horrible disease and they were kind to me when I flat out started crying because I couldn’t afford my normal birth control and then they helped me find a way to afford it.

The worst part about going to a Planned Parenthood is the stigma. I’m not talking about the stigma I feel I would face if I told people I was going to a Planned Parenthood (because my friends are rational human beings who also share my love and appreciation of PP). Rather, I am talking about the stigma that forces Planned Parenthoods – at least the ones I’ve been to – to be locked down with super tight security. The first time I visited a Planned Parenthood was in Chicago. When I arrived at the address I was given I was confused because there was a large sign that read “Planned Parenthood,” but no office in site. Finally I went into a neighboring dentist office and talked to the receptionist. She told me to go through a side door, down a hallway, and I would see a phone. I was to pick up the phone, which would dial the PP receptionist, who I couldn’t see because of a protective, clouded door. Once my appointment was confirmed I would be buzzed in and had to walk straight to the receptionist with my photo ID already in my hand.

That is ridiculous. I felt like I was trying to get into a Speak Easy. I’m not saying the amount of security protocols they had was ridiculous – the fact that they needed that amount of security is ridiculous and just disgusting. Do proctologists have to feel so unsafe at their jobs? Of course not. But a woman going to a Planned Parenthood for a routine check-up – she may want to sit close to an exit and wear a bulletproof vest.

Tweets from a Planned Parenthood employee detailing what her clinic faces on a day-to-day basis. Full article found here.

Planned Parenthood is about so much more than abortion services. Clearly people aren’t against PPs because they’re against breast exams and HPV testing. Abortions are so taboo and terrifying to people that they are willing to take down an entire, vital health organization just because they provide abortions. News flash: women were getting abortions even before PP existed. If a woman nowadays wants to get an abortion, what is she supposed to do? Go to a back alley? If she doesn’t want to have a child then she might as well subject herself to possible death and certain mutilation? What about the rape victim who was not ready to have a child and doesn’t want to bear the child of her rapist? Should she just throw herself down some stairs? What about the women who have a pregnancy that could kill them? Should we just say “well sucks to be you” and be done with it? What about the mother who already has four children and knows her family cannot financially take on a fifth? There are so many reasons that abortions should be available to those that want/need them. Our society has made so many medical leaps and bounds that women do not have to risk their lives just because they aren’t ready/don’t want a child.

Last weekend’s shooting at the Planned Parenthood in Colorado was a travesty and a product of the stigma that surrounds Planned Parenthood and abortions. The people who made those videos that “show Planned Parenthood selling baby parts” should be ashamed of themselves because they now have blood on their hands. And to all of the people who are cheering the actions of the shooter and blaming the victims for being in the Planned Parenthood: fuck you. If Jesus were around today he would support everything Planned Parenthood does. Or did everyone forget that he hung around with prostitutes and the people at the lowest rung of society?