Defund Planned Parenthood</

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

Now, I'm sure it's a very worthy aim. I'm sure that the US tax dollar would be better spent on education or healthcare. However, I have to wonder about this article.

Firstly, it's overly reactive. It's playing to an audience, sure, but it's also invoking Godwin's law, which seems a stupid thing to do if you've right on your side. It's unconvicning, whereas I'm sure it could be convincing.

Secondly, do Planned Parenthood really hand out bad condoms deliberately, or do they just give out mediocre ones because they're cheaper? I know that Family Planning CLinic condoms break a lot, but noone claims they do it deliberately. I'm sure that this is a case of incompetence rather than maliciousness.

Thirdly, surely the problem with Planned Parenthood is exactly the problem with other similar organisations - they don't give out enough information? I don't really know, I just know that it's something people froth at the mouth over, but that's the impression I got. They don't say 'this has this percentage failure rate and this has these, and here are the pros and cons'. Is that not the case?

(I'm writing this here so as to get a balanced view, so please don't jump down my throat saying 'PP aren't evil! Look, they do these good works'. I'm becoming aware of that. I genuinely want to know.)

Comments

[lnr]

The gist of the article seems to be that US tax money should not be spent on abortions, sex education in schools, or free condoms. I think the latter two are things which should be encouraged at all costs, and I think your third point is something the author of the article would disagree with, since it doesn't seem to think such information should be available to school-age children. I really can't imagine they are deliberately handing out bad condoms, and for this article to describe them as such does indeed seem unconvincing.

I do think it's odd that they're making a profit though!

[stonedsamurai.livejournal.com]

Hi, I just saw this post via the Rocksoc friends site. I think this article is unbelievable (and I am speaking here as a pregnant woman) - abortion doctors do not 'kill babies for a living', sex education does not sexualize children, and the idea that anyone hands out bad condoms to enhance their abortion business is laughable. I got a box of condoms from a (British) sex education project and one burst. I have never had this happen with brand name condoms, but poorly-funded sex ed projects can't afford to hand out Durex or Mates. I agree with the article in that I think far too many abortions are carried out each year, although I do not think this is a problem in any moral/religious sense, rather I think we underestimate the possible medical and psychological consquences for the women and girls who have these abortions. However, surely then governments should be funding MORE sex education for children, and MORE provision of free (better quality) contraception so that we hopefully end up with FEWER abortions. Grrr. Rant over.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

They'd hardly be the only group attempting to manipulate the American legislature!

The write of that article has so obviously decided long in advance that PP are evil that any reader should assume that all the claims in it are at best inaccurate until they can find a less unbalanced source that also states them. For instance, do they hand out poor-quality condoms at all? Can this be quantified?

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

It's all about abortion. The author admits as much in the first line - "This is not a column about abortion, per se". PP inform people, including those under 18, about abortion. That is why he wants them to be defunded. The aim of the article is to get the usual bomb-throwing anti-abortion squad to write to their representatives demanding that PP be defunded. Given that, the content is irrelevant; it may well be lies.

[fellcat.livejournal.com]

Logic says to me that, if one believes the free PP condoms to be inadequate, one should set up one's own charity to distribute free or subsidised Durex (and you can give out Avanti whilst you're at it − some of us are allergic to latex).

they don't give out enough information?
Noone does, whether at PP or at a CPC, because of political bias. The abortion war is so entrenched in the States that any acknowledgement by PP that: having the abortion necessary (because we still live in a world in which motherhood is a handicap far more than fatherhood is − a problem that abortion does not solve) to effectively continue one's education or career could possibly ever result in regret, heartache, and another story posted on Rachel's Vineyard; is seen as a concession to the enemy.

There's something wrong with our world that women are put in the position of having to make such decisions in the first place; after all, men don't have to.