I Stand with Prepared Parenthood

On March 26, above 400 people-including myself-gathered about the College of Michigan campus to assist Prepared Parenthood and talk out in opposition to recent efforts led by Republicans in Congress to strip Planned Parenthood of federal money. We braved the cold temperatures along with the often aggressive counter-protestors simply because we feel that the perform Planned Parenthood does is important for the wellbeing of our communities. Prepared Parenthood's countrywide organization stopped in Ann Arbor as part of their Fact Tour, and Prepared Parenthood will proceed to rally throughout the nation before stopping in Washington, DC on April seven.



The rally and march centered on preserving Planned Parenthood's funding beneath Title X, a federal government program that offers access to family arranging services these as contraception, cancer screenings, and dallas std testing. The Title X course is especially beneficial to low-income households, who might not or else have entry to health care. None of this Title X income funds abortion, but anti-choice politicians this kind of as Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) view Title X being a way that taxpayers "subsidize" abortion. Pence and other Republicans in Congress, emboldened by their midterm-election gains, have concentrated on cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, justifying it as a essential lower to lower the federal spending budget deficit. Even so, Title X accounts for only $327 million from the nation's $3.five trillion budget-about .009 percent-so this shift to cut is significantly less about deficit reduction and even more about waging tradition war in opposition to females.



Sometimes, the rally and march felt like a war zone because of towards the anti-choice presence on the rally and march. My emotions of apprehension commenced as I walked for the rally and saw that anti-choice counter-protestors had written in sidewalk chalk accusations that Prepared Parenthood supporters participated in murder in genocide. Several of them even carried symptoms with images of bloody fetuses. What disturbed me most were the counter-protestors carrying video clip cameras, due to the fact I be worried about what propaganda message they'll produce to misrepresent us-especially simply because I may possibly have unwittingly spoken to one.



Prepared Parenthood supporters outnumbered the anti-choice counter-protestors twenty to one, however the heckling through the anti-choice contingent often silenced the voices of the speakers with the rally, and we needed to strain to hear them. Though virtually all the counter-protestors were non-violent, the police needed to intervene when a single guy started shoving Prepared Parenthood supporters. Overall, the anti-choice counter-protestors attempted to build an ambiance of dread and shame, and though I am pleased with myself as well as the a huge selection of Planned Parenthood supporters who arrived out to the rally and march, I have to admit that the counter-protestors ruined my mood for the remainder of the day.