Planned parenthood saved my best friend’s life-and not in the way you think.
I have been hearing more and more stories about people who are protesting Planned Parenthood and how there are still people out there who would like the place closed down. So, I have decided to share a story for everyone to know why Planned Parenthood is needed.
There is a girl, a year older than me. She is my best friend, the one who I would go to any lengths to help (and she would do the same for me). I will call her Marcia in this article (not her actual name). She has a boyfriend who she will be getting married to someday- they are in love with each other. They are sexually active, and I don’t mind, but I am always afraid because even though they practice VERY SAFE sex (at least one form of birth control, usually two) they have faced an extremely scary situation before.
They did it for the first time. And then, a few weeks later, things got weird. She got bad stomach-aches and went to the doctor. Then after doing some tests on her, our doctor told us Marcia had an STD: chlamydia. Fortunately, there is a Planned Parenthood in our town, and she and her boyfriend got treated quickly. And I am so thankful for that.
But what if there WASN’T a Planned Parenthood anywhere nearby? Her family is not rich by any means; having to go on a long drive would have put a large strain on them financially. (They already rack up a lot of medical costs as it is) Or what if the Planned Parenthood we went to had been attacked by anti-choice extremists? Or what if she faced threats from people who thought she was getting an abortion, instead of necessary medical treatment?
Planned Parenthood saved my best friend’s life, and yet few people seem to realize that Planned Parenthood does non-abortion services, and thus many people are trying to get it closed and there are people who bomb clinics that provide abortions or even clinics that they THINK provide abortions. (There was an infamous case where a man bombed a woman’s health clinic because he thought it provided abortions. It didn’t.)
I am, of course, in favor of abortion. But even if I wasn’t, I would still support Planned Parenthood. It is about abortion, but so much more, too. Marcia could have become infertile, she might have even died, if it wasn’t for this clinic.. but some people protest to try and get it shut down?! Really!?
This is one of the many reasons we still need feminism; women have to fight to keep clinics open that save lives every day, just because not everyone agrees with ONE out of dozens of services it supplies.
We still need feminism because people are protesting the clinic that saved the life of my best friend in the world. We need feminism because every day, women have to fight for our right to live-and live freely.
1freewomyn
wrote on 20 November 2009 at 16:40
Alex, thanks for sharing your friend’s story with us. It is definitely a good example of why Planned Parenthood is a vital health care provider.
One question for you – how did your friend get chlamydia? Was her current boyfriend her first partner? I’m not trying to get all up in her business, or make assumptions about her partner. But they’re obviously not practicing safe sex every time if she got chlamydia. Birth control is important, but pregnancy isn’t the only thing to worry about. Like I said, I’m not trying to get in your friend’s business, but I am concerned that she got the clap her first time out of the gate.
2Alex
wrote on 20 November 2009 at 16:51
What happened was, they used condoms which broke because they weren’t told how to use them properly. The boyfriend got it from another girl who had it, and several people think that girl tries to give it to people because she gets boys to do it with her but coaxes them into not using protection- the trap her boyfriend fell into. My friend and her boyfriend are now using condoms correctly, and she takes birth control pills.
3freewomyn
wrote on 20 November 2009 at 16:59
OK – good to hear that they’re on the up and up.
4Manda
wrote on 21 November 2009 at 6:45
I feel like I’ve heard of people purposely spreading STIs before…seriously, how malicious can you be???
I’m glad your friend had a PP nearby Alex. I get more frustrated with the people that claim PP is an abortion mill than I do with the ones that scream about how abortion is murder. PP has so much more, and serves a vital need to the communities it’s in; some centers even have services for men too! It totally boggles my mind why people would want to shut down such an excellent resource.
5Jessica Sideways
wrote on 20 July 2010 at 22:54
It’s probably the same reason why people try to spread Christianity – because of malice.