Defunding Planned Parenthood defunds our choices as well as abortion.
I know that, intimately, because when I was pregnant with my first son, I was 18, a college student and unmarried. And the only support I had was this one counselor at Planned Parenthood.
No one, not his father, not my mother, not any of my college mentors considered for a moment that I should have that child. I don't blame them, I didn't either. They all urged me to take a day trip to Oakland and get an abortion. In those days, that was the closest access to a safe, legal abortion, and it was about a 100 miles from my college.
So, I made an appointment with Planned Parenthood in my mother's town and went home for that weekend to sort it all out. To say I was confused would be a hilarious understatement. I remember driving over to the clinic by myself and that my hands felt cold. My boyfriend, my mom, everyone thought I would be making an appointment for an abortion. So, it was a Planned Parenthood counselor that first suggested to me that I had a choice. Abortion was one choice but having the baby was another one. It was the first time in the six weeks of my pregnancy that anyone had talked to me as if I was an adult that could handle thinking about different plans.
That counselor spent a long time with me, probably too long for her schedule. And when I walked out of that clinic, I was relieved and happy because I'd made a decision that came out of deliberation, out of real problem solving with adequate support, and not out of making everyone else happy or to bail out of a situation because I was afraid and alone.
At first, everyone was upset with me. Then, as the family accepted my decision, things turned around. My mother-in-law to be eventually made my son a beautiful suit by hand when he was the ring bearer at our wedding. My mother fell in love with my son the first second she saw him as did his father. I don't know if I did the right thing but it was the right thing for us. And the kid is all right.
So, thanks, Planned Parenthood, for that choice. Good decisions come from real choices. Thanks for mine.
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I know that the counseling and services at Planned Parenthood are top notch.
Thanks for sharing with DU the truth of your personal experience and busting the myths about PP. Glad it turned out so well for you and your family. Being able to make your own decision with the support of PP sounds like it certainly helped.
k&r
Such a beautiful, heartfelt story! The truth about Planned Parenthood is always good to see.
I honestly don't know what I'd have done without their excellent services, all these years I've gone without medical insurance.
They are truly life savers!
Think before you Pink!
And let's keep it that way. 
"Good decisions come from real choices."
as the King family.
ETA -- and, there's my Democratic Party bona fides, too, lol. Hadn't noticed the portrait before. That was the only portrait up in the family home for a long time.
the same material as your skirt? The King Family...ROTFLMAO! The facial expressions tell it all about obligatory grandma-try-ons!
lol
k&r.
