Intrepid: An LGBTQ+ Arts Magazine September 2015 | Page 2

Dear Mr. Congressman, Please Stay Away From
my Uterus:
A Commentary on Planned Parenthood
By: Jasmin Haddad
There is very rarely an individual who is neutral about the concept of
abortion. The separation between pro-choice and pro-life may be one of
the very few things that cannot be categorized into a broad spectrum.
This month in “Sexism in the U.S. of A,” we have a call from politicians to
shut down Planned Parenthood for “promoting” abortion. Evidently, in
the mind of a few politicians, simply being pro-choice is equivalent to being
blood thirsty murderers, and frankly, I would like to dispel that notion in
several small lists:

Reasons as to why uterus-bearing individuals
choose to have abortions:

-Rape or incest
-Not being ready for a child, whether financially, emotionally, or otherwise
-Girls under the age of 16 forced to birth a child prematurely
-Trans men having to undergo any form of pregnancy
-Realization that thousands of children have yet to be adopted and the system is flawed
-Any reason they choose because it’s an individual choice and
not anyone’s business besides that of the uterus bearer and
possibly their partner

Reasons as to why some politicians are anti-choice:
-Typically religious motivations
-Want the support and votes of conservative voters
-Deep misunderstanding of female anatomy

Things planned parenthood does:

-Only 3% of the company’s procedures are abortion...
The rest, you ask? Well, it includes:
-Breast screenings/exams
-Cancer prevention measures
-STD testing and prevention
-Pap smears

The fact of the matter is one’s opinion on abortion should not and does
not affect anyone else but his or her own self. Pro-choice individuals are
just that, people that want the choice of reproduction to be in the hands of
individuals. It is not about whether or not we think the idea of abortion is a
good one, it is about the fact that it is a choice and we recognize that no one
has the authority to take away the right to choose what is done with their
body. The fact of the matter, in terms of Planned Parenthood, is that there
simply would not be any positive outcomes in eradicating it. The organization
does tremendous work in terms of reproductive health for both men and women. Thus, to take that away from people would not only effectively increase
rates of unwanted pregnancies, but also take away resources for cancer prevention and reproductive health. Without adequate means for reproductive
health or cancer prevention we don’t have a way to keep people healthy and
thriving. We need a society where people are getting smarter and wiser about
their options for staying healthy, not one in which we take away any resources available to the people. While measures to cut these types of programs are
typically geared towards women, they end up hurting men, women, children,
and anyone in between.