Planned Parenthood

I'm just jumping on the rant-mobile along with everyone else today. Forgive me.The whole issue that's keeping the current budget from passing is mainly about funding Planned Parenthood.First off: Federal funding is prohibited from paying for abortions. Let's take that argument off the table. Yes, an argument is going to be made about redirecting money. I'm going to ignore that for a moment and get back to it later.Note: I'm going by experiences I've gathered by osmosis since I'm not actually a woman.Women's health is a tricky business. There seems to be more moving parts. Not only that but it's mainly the woman that has to deal with the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy.Now the debate here seems to be partially about the abortion thing (I'm ignoring it for a moment, remember) but more broadly it's how a woman should participate in society. If a woman doesn't have access to birth control, be it condoms or the pill, she's going to pay a much higher price for the sex she has with a man."Oh," you say, "my daughter isn't going to do that. That's not how she was brought up."Suck it. She's her own person and chances are she's going to have sex before she gets married (assuming that's what she wants to do). You don't have a say in the matter. Everyone is their own person. Your kids are not your pets.Don't you want her to have the facts and have access to the resources to make her own educated decision? Once she knows what she wants, even if you don't give her money to buy it, don't you want her to have access to carry out those decisions?"But using birth control is against my religion!"Ok. It's against your religion. What makes you think that your son or daughter have the same view?Raise your hand if you want your daughter to grow up to be a porn star?Seeing no hands raised... check the internet for how many porn stars there are. They were not raised to be a porn star. You kid is their own person. You have project your hopes on dreams on them, but that doesn't stop them from being who they are.(As an aside I see nothing wrong with being a porn star -- man or woman -- if you are happy with what you are doing and having fun)Put yourself in your kid's shoes. You know better. You have experience on your side now. They don't. They are afraid of you -- of disappointing you. They know what they were thought. And what if you didn't teach them about sex?Now to the abortions... if you want to have fewer abortions, have fewer pregnancies. And don't give me the abstinence crap. It didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. Kids have sex -- deal with it. If you want fewer abortions, give your kids a chance to not get pregnant by educating them about their options. Give them the chance and options that you yourself are not giving them.Give them the option to go to Planned Parenthood.Ok Tea Party-ers... it's about money, right?You want to reduce the welfare rolls. Educate people. Educate your daughters especially. If your daughter gets pregnant she can be out of school right when she needs it most -- be is high school or college. Your son might be out some money, but your daughter is out something even more valuable: time and experience. By educating your kids (or at least allowing your kids to be educated or to seek out the knowledge) you give them to opportunity to blossom. Think of it like an investment in all our our futures. Men and women that can make educated decisions about their bodies will be better, more productive citizens.And let's not even get into the topic of providing free and/or low cost medical care to all the women out there that don't have other options. This is an investment in lowering future health-care costs.