5 Reasons to Support Planned Parenthood
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If you grow up in America, the name Planned Parenthood is a household name. Perhaps not a favorable one in many households, such as my own. A teenage girl raised with strict Asian parents who barely allowed me to go to sleepover parties, that name was never uttered. As an Asian- American teen growing up in America, I didn’t have the luxury of the traditional sit down with a parent for the ever so awkward “birds and the bees” convo like I watched on television. Planned Parenthood was my only solace. Its name stood for survival, education and help.
I didn’t have anyone, not an older sibling, not a life mentor (at that time) to guide me through the changes in my body and sexual curiosity. The summer that I had lost my virginity, I felt lost. I had so many questions and going to my mother was absolutely not an option. When I decided to go on birth control, I put on my colloquial “big girl pants on” and made an appointment at Planned Parenthood. I was seventeen with my very first set of adult-like fears. Walking through the doors I knew that I had made the right decision. All my questions were answered and nobody judged me. I was consoled, I was educated and I knew how to make safe choices because of what Planned Parenthood taught me. It was a brisk, Autumn day in November and I had my very first pap smear. Looking back, if I was a mother, I would want to know that about my daughter and hopefully had been there for her.
This little piece of nostalgia is not to blame my parents, not at all, but to provide an understanding of how Planned Parenthood helped me through that somewhat frightful coming-of-age in my life. I don’t know what would have happened had Planned Parenthood not been there for me.
The first reason being the most obvious, that Planned Parenthood opens its medical support and services to patients of any income, immigration or insurance status. This type of facility is a rarity in America, because older generations in power tend to believe in monetary profits over people’s welfare. Hard truth of the country I live in.
With trained sexual health educators, they offer free and confidential online chats to answer any question you have regarding your physical health and concerns. Having a trained team on hand to give expert and thoughtful advice requires adequate pay.
Now with the overturn of Roe v Wade, incoming patients need to be physically and mentally safe upon arrivals and departure from PP clinics. I cannot stress that enough, because the Supreme Court has now put countless women’s lives at physical stake, there is a high alert for on-site security. Sad and frightening isn’t it?
America lacks free and affordable healthcare for women of color and of underprivileged communities. That is the fact, a devastating truth of what it is like to live in the United States, as a woman who cannot afford health insurance. PP has always helped these women in need.
There needs to be a safe, confidential space for the next generation for when they seek advice on contraceptions, birth control options, sexually transmitted diseases, all the topics that parents and often teachers find it difficult to divulge. As a teen, PP was my safe haven, I can only hope that it continues on for this country’s next generation of young women.
