So John Kyl can get up on the floor of the Senate and lie. He said that the "majority" of services provided by Planned Parenthood, are abortions.
When called on his lie, Kyl said, "Oh, I was just making a point." Well, how about making a point with facts and not lies?
Under Federal law, NO PROVIDER can use Federal funds for abortions. Not Planned Parenthood, not your local county health department, no hospital in the United States. This is all political hysteria.
It has to do with giving women affordable health care. One in 5 women comes to Planned Parenthood for healthcare in their lifetime. The organization helps women prevent pregnancies, and also provides basic screenings: mammograms, screenings for cervical cancer, etc. Services that many of us who have insurance take for granted.
Services that will cost a woman's life if she doesn't have access to them.
Do you really want to be on the side of preventing women from getting basic health care? There are about 3 million women who go to Planned Parenthood clinics. The clinics are often in rural areas or medically under-served areas. The organization is more about preventing unwanted pregnancies, rather than terminating them.
Only 3% of Planned Parenthood services center around abortions. THREE percent. That's not a majority in anyone's math; unless you're a conservative who "wants to make a point."
Why are we going to ration care? Why are the Republicans so eager to decry the Affordable Care Act, claiming "death panels" and "rationing care" and all that garbage...when they're doing that for about 50% of the population: women.
Ohhhhhhhhhh. It's because it's women. Usually poor women. Apparently, poor women are disposable. They don't count. They're not the constituents who really matter to conservatives. And the whole "Christian" thing? Sorry, I'm not buying it.
The argument is this: "All life is sacred. The life of the unborn is sacred." OK, so what about the life of the woman who carries the baby? And what if, if all life is sacred, and the woman chooses to complete the pregnancy, she gives the baby up? Are you standing there waiting for it? Are you applying to be a foster parent or an adoptive parent? Or are you just concerned with the fetus, and after that, it's another one of those persons who don't count in your calculations? And if all life is sacred, what about the woman who goes to Planned Parenthood because she hasn't got insurance, hasn't seen a doctor, and has a medical problem? Is your concern for life only if it's a fetus? What about that woman? Who may have children at home who depend on her, and she's found a lump. She has no other recourse but to go to Planned Parenthood because maybe she's unemployed or under-employed, with no insurance, no doctor who gives her an annual physical.
Isn't her life worth something? It's life. It should be, under your argument, sacred. As sacred as any theoretical fetus.
You're willing to go out on that limb and deny basic health care to a large number of women. And do what? Throw them under the proverbial bus to complete your religious agenda? The religious right is driving this bus, and nobody's calling them on it.
Religion and politics are TWO SEPARATE things. Our Constitution states that there will be no "official" religion in this country. But more and more, it seems as if the loud and illogical conservative right seems to think that we are a Christian nation.
Here's a bombshell, folks: "The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."
Want to guess who said that? George Washington; Commander-in-Chief of the colonial armies in the American Revolution and subsequently the FIRST United States President (1789-97).
George Washington. One of the Founding Fathers, who are often quoted by the Right when it's convenient for them to do so.
Medicaid covered abortion services until 1977, when the Hyde amendment went into effect. This amendment restricts federal funding for abortion. See the following link for more information.
http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/f/HydeAmendment.htm
As always, it's important to do your research. Think. Connect with your local legislative people...you know, the people YOU voted into office. Let them hear from you, but do yourself a favor: educate yourself on the issues using unbiased sources. Think.
If you're a woman, this is important to you. If you're someone who loves a woman, this is important to you.
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