The Shutdown Gets Shut Down

Last week, an epic struggle over abortion rights was waged on the Senate floor, the most dramatic such debate in at least two weeks and the likes of which will only be seen five or six more times before the end of 2011.  With just an hour to go until complete and total anarchy (in the way of closed post offices and a parking free-for-all), the government shutdown was halted when the Republicans conceded defeat in their Game of Chicken and generously agreed to devote 0.008% of the federal budget to Planned Parenthood.

http://thefeministgriote.com/?p=775

Here are just a few things that we learned in the week leading up to the Shutdown:

• "Big Abortion" is something we should be worried about.
• Abortion constitutes over 90% of Planned Parenthood's services.
• You can get a mammogram and a Pap Smear at Walgreens.

http://www.newshounds.us/2011/04/12/brian_kilmeades_misogynistic_mocking_of_planned_parenthood.php

Now, while it is evidently permissible in political discourse to use absolutely any fabricated fact or preferably a bullshitted statistic to support your argument, it still remains the case that abortions constitute only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services, and Section 1008 of Title X already prohibits these abortions from being funded by federal dollars.  Yet, in just the same way that all women entering a PP facility for any reason are harassed indiscriminately, so too were the 97% of PP services that are not abortion-related to be defunded in the right's war of attrition on abortion and women's health.

This all leaves me utterly baffled as to what's truly at the root of the debate, because its clearly not the deficit.  I do, however, have my pet theories.  First:  America's religious, corn-fed middle and lower classes care more about fetuses than about women, to put it simply.  Babies have the fortune of being cute and innocent, whereas women have had sufficient time to fuck up in some aspect of life.  I can't tell you how many times I've come across this viewpoint just in perusing other Blogspot blogs and Facebook pages:  babies are sweet, innocent, and "gifts from God," and women who are not interested in producing more of them are whores, murderers, or both.

Second: America is viscerally afraid of and opposed to sex.  We are dedicated to denying that sexuality is a natural and universal aspect of life, whether we are married or single, straight or gay, trying to procreate or not.  Women's health services pertain to STDs, pregnancy, and the general state of having genitals - all of which are matters relate to sex.  Thus, Planned Parenthood falls into the category of "things your parents get awkwardly silent about and hope you don't notice," along with condom commercials and softcore porn mags.  So why devote funds to preventing the byproducts of sex - STDs, pregnancy, and cervical cancer - when these things only happen to bad people who are just getting what they deserve?

Luckily, the joke is on detractors of women's health, because donations to Planned Parenthood have increased 500% since the funding debate first began.  Evidently, there are people other than myself who feel that saving money by not providing condoms to low-income populations may not be the best cost-reduction approach in the long run.

Preaching to the Choir

With a little less than half of the U.S. self-identifying as Pro-Choice, it's easy for us to stick together.  When you're young, hip, sexy, and buying quinoa from Trader Joe's, it's even easier.  Sex and Choice are natural conversation points at parties.  Supporting Planned Parenthood is taken as a given.  Some of us may even blog for an intended audience already in agreement.  For people like us, there are rallying points like this great video:

Wesleyan University - "I Have Sex"

And this more cloying one:

Second City - For Those With Vaginas

But preaching to the choir only goes so far to effect actual change.  Eventually, we actually need to mobilize our fervent energy and bring our concerns and our message to the other side, to those who don't already agree with us, to those who are uncomfortable with our position.  Accordingly, today I performed my most futile of civic duties:  I wrote a letter to my Senator, ultra pro-life Saxby Chambliss (R - GA Douchebag).  Note how I pretended that "budget cuts" are really the issue at hand:

"Dear Senator Chambliss,

I am writing to express my concerns about measures currently under consideration regarding reproductive health.  In the ongoing Congressional debates on FY2011 budget cuts, you have voted to defund both the United Nations Population Fund and Planned Parenthood.  I ask that you reconsider your stance on these issues, and lend your support to these vital organizations.  I am one of your constituents, and a citizen concerned both with the nation’s growing deficit, as well as with the impact of unintended pregnancies both at home and worldwide.  I believe not only that these two causes are related, but that they are intricately and inextricably linked.

First, I urge you to vote in support of providing funding to the United Nations Population Fund.  This organization does not fund abortions, but rather provides desperately-needed access to family planning resources and education to millions of young women and men around the world.   In addition, the UNFPA also provides medical care to pregnant women in an effort to decrease the enormous number of maternal deaths and injuries that occur each day.  These measures, which allow women in the developing world to determine the size and spacing of their families, have proven their positive impact.  Nations with fewer unintended pregnancies, smaller family size, and fewer maternal deaths are more stable socially, economically, and politically.  Such improvements would spell positive changes for our global community.

Second, I ask that you support federal funding for Planned Parenthood, an organization which provides family planning and health services to millions of Americans.  The mission of Planned Parenthood is to prevent unwanted pregnancy, allowing women and girls to complete their educations and further their careers, and saving millions of dollars each year in Medicaid and Welfare costs.

I understand the severity of the nation’s current financial situation, but I firmly believe that cutting funding from family planning programs is not the way to save money.  I am sure that you have heard the saying that every dollar spent on family planning measures saves four down the road.  Thus, in this time of economic crisis, it would behoove us as citizens of Georgia, the United States, and the world to invest in women’s future and in fiscally-sound family planning measures.

Thank you."

Naturally, my letter is going to end up being ignored.  Actually, it's not even going to be ignored by Saxby Chambliss; it's going to be ignored by Saxby Chambliss' secretary's intern.  But I'm glad that I finally voiced my dissident opinion to someone who is supposed to be representing me.  And maybe a hundred such letters would be harder to ignore.

Happily, Planned Parenthood is safe for now, but the failure of H.R. 1 bought only about three weeks of time.  The threat of budget cuts is not going anywhere.  So I'm going to go all PSA on ya'll and beg you 1) To donate to Planned Parenthood, and 2) to write to your Senators and Representatives.  Feel free to copy and paste my letter, emend it, or ignore it and write your own.  If you give a shit about this cause, please tell someone.  And don't let me be that someone.  Make it someone who doesn't already know.