For That Which We Cannot Plan

Posted by Jeff on May 25, 2017 at 2:30 pm

I have never stepped foot inside a Planned Parenthood location.

Sure, I’ve seen them, driven past them and maybe even parked out in front of a Planned Parenthood once in Philly or Denver or somewhere else I’ve been over the years. But I’ve never been inside.

And yet, AND YET, I stand with Planned Parenthood.

I stand with Planned Parenthood because I know it’s vitally important for women, all women, to have access to healthcare, and that money or the lackthereof should never stand in the way of a woman obtaining healthcare services.

This isn’t anything new.

I stood with Planned Parenthood long before I married a woman who once needed those healthcare services.

I had no idea.

I stood with Planned Parenthood long before I learned that my wife once needed Planned Parenthood because her poor family had no healthcare insurance, no money, no ability to help her. She might not be here if not for Planned Parenthood.

PP was there to help her, just as it has been there for countless other women over the years.

I stand with Planned Parenthood now today because I have two young women in my care who may someday need to step inside for birth control or for a potentially live saving cancer screening. I’ll be right there standing with them if they need me to be.

Planned Parenthood offers health services for men too. I know, I had no idea either.

Unfortunately most of us don’t know all that Planned Parenthood does every single day for millions of American women and men because there’s a political stink cloud of misinformation that makes even sensible heads too dizzy to see through at times. But this isn’t about me or other guys receiving STI screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, counseling and testing for HIV, condoms, or counseling and referrals for free or low-cost vasectomy. That’s the truth.

Here more truth: Planned Parenthood cannot be allowed to be disappeared by the angry white male regime in Washington D.C. Millions in low income and rural areas will suffer if Planned Parent is defunded. Many will die. That’s not an example of a respect for life.

This is about truth and about standing with Planned Parenthood while our girls and their bodies and their access to sensible, safe and affordable health services is attacked by rich, old, white, hateful men.

If the smear campaign against Planned Parenthood is effective and the Senate passes what is meant to pass as ‘reform’ of America’s healthcare system, Planned Parenthood will be defunded.

A defunded Planned Parenthood would mean that 2.5 million people will be without the community health centers they rely on every day. Stripping away vital health services from its people is not an action by those who love life. It’s barbaric.

I have never stepped foot inside a Planned Parenthood but just because I have never needed it for myself does not prohibit me from seeing the value millions of others place on Planned Parenthood every day of their lives. To better their lives. To save their lives.

This is about life and truth, and an authentic, unquestionable love of both.

Guys, I invite you — no, IMPLORE YOU — to stand together with me, with women, with communities of Americans who rely on the health services provided by Planned Parenthood to defeat the draconian ‘reform’ measures being offered up by a President and a congress that are choosing to devalue women and life and truth at every turn.

*This post is made possible by support from The Mission List . All opinions are my own.