Stand with Planned Parenthood

The House of Representatives has voted to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

By law, federal funds haven’t paid for abortions since the 1970s, so the House hasn’t voted to cut abortion funding. They’re cutting funding for the entire Title X program — funding for contraception, cancer screening, STI tests, sex education, mammograms, HIV testing and diagnosis, and pregnancy screening and counseling. Title X is the only federal program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and preventive health services, particularly low-income families. Last year, 5 million people benefited from the services funded by Title X.

Planned Parenthood is the target of this legislation, and American women the primary victims. This isn’t about abortion — it’s about cutting access to health care for women.

Take action against what could have hugely detrimental effects for women's health care. Sign Planned Parenthood's "open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it."

Family Planning in Central Wisconsin

I just wanted to pass along this video about a family planning clinic in Wausau, Wisconsin. Wausau is a 20-30 minute drive from both my parent's hometowns and I'm pretty familiar with the town and area. For my parents growing up, Wausau was a big city. It's not totally surprising to see this type of atmosphere around a family planning clinic in this area - a clinic which doesn't provide abortions, by the way.



h/t Miriam at Feministing.

17-year-old women can now purchase Plan B without prescription

Remember when U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman of New York told the FDA to reconsider a 2006 decision that only allowed women 18 and over access to Plan B without a prescription?

Well, that's exactly what happened.

Judge thinks FDA should lift age restriction for the baby-killing abortion pill* (Plan B)

U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman of New York has recently instructed the FDA to rethink its 2006 decision that only allows women over 18 years to have access to Plan B without a prescription. Korman urged the agency to "make Plan B available to 17-year-olds within 30 days and to review whether to make the emergency contraceptive available to all ages without a doctor's order."

In his 52-page decision, Korman repeatedly criticized the FDA's handling of the issue, agreeing with allegations in a lawsuit that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious" and influenced by "political and ideological" considerations imposed by the Bush administration.

Of course, not everyone is excited about this. Some conservative Congress members and other groups still like to think that Plan B is unsafe, could "encourage sexual activity and make it easier for men to have sex with underage girls," and of course, that it's a baby-killing abortion pill.

I think it's a good idea for Plan B to be available to all women, regardless of age. Having to show I.D. as a proof of age means that certain women, even if they are over the age of 18 (such as illegal immigrants, as the article states) may be unable to get access to Plan B when they need it, which could easily led to unplanned pregnancies with their whole set of controversial options, including legitimate abortion.

And the idea that having this available to women of all ages would promote sexual activity? Well, haha.

*Sarcasm. :)

EDIT: Moved the dang * in the title it make clearer what I meant.

Via.

Write to Congress about BC prices

Planned Parenthood has an action alert to write your congress members about the price of birth control here. There are a couple of bills coming up in the next few weeks that will fix the unintended price hike, so now's the time to write.

Here's an excerpt from the letter:

The Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054 / S. 2347) -- legislation that would make a no-cost, technical fix to the DRA and restore safety-net and university clinics' ability to access low-cost contraceptives -- has 170 cosponsors in the House, and 35 in the Senate. This legislation would not cost either the federal government or state Medicaid agencies anything. It would merely allow drug manufacturers to offer deeply discounted prices to safety-net health care providers. If you have not done so already, please co-sponsor the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act and tell congressional leadership that this problem must be resolved immediately.

And the link to PP again, just in case you didn't click on it the first time.

Birth Control Costs from a Birth Control User

Birth control prices have been on my mind lately following up this discussion, so it was serendipitous to wander onto a blog post about birth control costs. It's from Stacking Pennies, a personal finances/frugal living blog that I'm definitely adding to my bookmarks, as frugal blogging is of interest to me and my ever-growing student loans and little-by-little decreasing credit card debit - not to mention it's getting harder just to get by day-to-day.

Her post is at Female Finance: Birth Control Costs

She gives a nice look at a bunch of different birth control and its prices/effectiveness and breaks it down like this:

To sum it up, here are the options I’ve come up with so far, all in pre-tax dollars:

• Condoms: Maybe $150/yr, but not enough protection
• NuvaRing: $600/yr
• The Pill: Estimated $300/yr
• IUD: ??? One time (per 10 yrs) cost of $300+
• Abstinence: $0, but perhaps my happiness and/or my boyfriend

Gosh we women get ripped off. . . (Although any male paying $50/mo for condoms has my sympathy too.) Also, why aren’t feminine hygiene products eligible for my HSA spending but band-aids are? The sort of do the same thing. Ok, not at all, but still! I consider them a necessary health product but I guess they aren’t.

For the record, I consider birth control a necessary health product. My motto is condoms+ - condoms plus another form. No babies, no babies, no babies.

The entire post is interesting if you want to see how different methods compare, and the comments are another good place to get an idea of how much people are spending on birth control, anywhere from free to $5 to $55.