I do wish Planned Parenthood had not gotten into prescribing wrong sex hormones for confused young people as well as coaching them into medical and surgical paths as well as hiding this from parents. Planned Parenthood does harm young people.
For sure. Another example of how forced teaming with trans rights activists turned out badly for a cause. In this case it was PP taking up trans rights under the umbrella argument of “bodily autonomy”.
I hear you on the "to cover or not to cover" issue with autogynephilia. How many times have we been through the big-tent-GC and true-trans arguments where AGP "allies" or presenters swanned in and made everyone look like fools because, in the end, they're still performing their paraphilia? Personally I think we can pass on giving them extra attention now -- live and learn.
I am sorry to tell you that the conservatives are fully aware that eliminating Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding will reduce women getting their health screenings and birth control and increase breast and cervical cancer and unplanned pregnancies. I know this because we, the OB/Gyns of America, have met with and told them time and time again. It is simply more important for them to please their base by defunding Planned Parenthood than provide health care to marginalized women.
Interesting! I think both can be true: it’s ideologically driven and it’s short-sighted. The downstream effects of defunding PP (rising maternal mortality, more unplanned pregnancies, late-stage cancers, a greater increase in STIs, etc) are an accepted consequence by conservative politicians, but why?? A not insignificant portion of their own voters will be directly impacted, too.
It’s a terrible trade-off, even on purely practical or economic terms.
Thank you for engaging. IF PEOPLE TRULY WANTED TO DECREASE ABORTIONS, THEY WOULD MAKE BIRTH CONTROL MORE ACCESSIBLE TO WOMEN EVERY CHANCE THEY GOT. However, since they do not make this choice, it is difficult to believe that reducing abortions, rather than scoring political points, is their goal.
Making abortions illegal does very little to decrease the abortion rate. It simply makes abortions more expensive and dangerous to women. Women in desperation have been terminating their pregnancies since time immemorial and will continue to do so. That is why many normal people who don’t love abortion also don’t love anti-abortion laws. Years ago, when the state of Iowa defunded planned parenthood, I remember a pro-life Lutheran minister wrote an op-ed opposing the defunding — because giving women birth control ACTUALLY decreases the abortion rate by a ton. It is difficult to imagine a principled pro-life person taking that stance today.
But they choose to make access to birth control more difficult, driving up the abortion rate. They know perfectly well what they are doing.
I actually think this is a huge part of the reason that the medical community was bamboozled by WPATH and trans activists — conservatives have been so completely insane on women’s health issues for so long that they had absolutely no credibility and it was a very reasonable assumption that they were wrong on trans issues as well. It just turned out to be one of the very few things they were right about.
I agree 100% with everything you wrote here. In fact, I see three great essay ideas in your response: 1) a shifted focus from abortion to preventing unplanned pregnancies 2) the silent voters who vote conservative but don’t support restricted abortion (we know they exist from the red states that rejected anti-abortion ballot measures) and 3) the “broken clock” phenomenon with conservative politicians when it comes to gender ideology. If you’re ever interested in writing a guest commentary for us, your expertise would be highly valued!
I do wish Planned Parenthood had not gotten into prescribing wrong sex hormones for confused young people as well as coaching them into medical and surgical paths as well as hiding this from parents. Planned Parenthood does harm young people.
For sure. Another example of how forced teaming with trans rights activists turned out badly for a cause. In this case it was PP taking up trans rights under the umbrella argument of “bodily autonomy”.
I hear you on the "to cover or not to cover" issue with autogynephilia. How many times have we been through the big-tent-GC and true-trans arguments where AGP "allies" or presenters swanned in and made everyone look like fools because, in the end, they're still performing their paraphilia? Personally I think we can pass on giving them extra attention now -- live and learn.
That’s my thinking, too. I refuse to take part in their fetish, and I don’t want to inadvertently lure other women into that dynamic either.
I am sorry to tell you that the conservatives are fully aware that eliminating Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding will reduce women getting their health screenings and birth control and increase breast and cervical cancer and unplanned pregnancies. I know this because we, the OB/Gyns of America, have met with and told them time and time again. It is simply more important for them to please their base by defunding Planned Parenthood than provide health care to marginalized women.
Interesting! I think both can be true: it’s ideologically driven and it’s short-sighted. The downstream effects of defunding PP (rising maternal mortality, more unplanned pregnancies, late-stage cancers, a greater increase in STIs, etc) are an accepted consequence by conservative politicians, but why?? A not insignificant portion of their own voters will be directly impacted, too.
It’s a terrible trade-off, even on purely practical or economic terms.
Thank you for engaging. IF PEOPLE TRULY WANTED TO DECREASE ABORTIONS, THEY WOULD MAKE BIRTH CONTROL MORE ACCESSIBLE TO WOMEN EVERY CHANCE THEY GOT. However, since they do not make this choice, it is difficult to believe that reducing abortions, rather than scoring political points, is their goal.
Making abortions illegal does very little to decrease the abortion rate. It simply makes abortions more expensive and dangerous to women. Women in desperation have been terminating their pregnancies since time immemorial and will continue to do so. That is why many normal people who don’t love abortion also don’t love anti-abortion laws. Years ago, when the state of Iowa defunded planned parenthood, I remember a pro-life Lutheran minister wrote an op-ed opposing the defunding — because giving women birth control ACTUALLY decreases the abortion rate by a ton. It is difficult to imagine a principled pro-life person taking that stance today.
But they choose to make access to birth control more difficult, driving up the abortion rate. They know perfectly well what they are doing.
I actually think this is a huge part of the reason that the medical community was bamboozled by WPATH and trans activists — conservatives have been so completely insane on women’s health issues for so long that they had absolutely no credibility and it was a very reasonable assumption that they were wrong on trans issues as well. It just turned out to be one of the very few things they were right about.
I agree 100% with everything you wrote here. In fact, I see three great essay ideas in your response: 1) a shifted focus from abortion to preventing unplanned pregnancies 2) the silent voters who vote conservative but don’t support restricted abortion (we know they exist from the red states that rejected anti-abortion ballot measures) and 3) the “broken clock” phenomenon with conservative politicians when it comes to gender ideology. If you’re ever interested in writing a guest commentary for us, your expertise would be highly valued!