The President's Message to Planned Parenthood

I am the father of two daughters, a former RN, and a long-time feminist. I have had the privilege of serving on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Health Services of Southwest Oregon; Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon; and, as a founding member of the Planned Parenthood Oregon PAC. During that same period, I was also a member of the state board of directors at Oregon NARAL.

One-in-four women will use the services of Planned Parenthood during the course of their lives, for all kinds of reasons related to reproductive health. Planned Parenthood counselors help millions of American women plan their families, and tend to their personal health. They provide advice, STD prevention, pregnancy testing, access to contraception, physical examinations, breast exams; and, access to safe pregnancy termination if that is the express desire of the patient.

It is important to note that almost all of Planned Parenthood's mission and programs are designed to minimize the incidence of abortion.  Huge budgets are devoted to appropriate sex education and community outreach. Education programs help kids and young adults build successful, honest relationships, avoid STDs, and deal with difficult issues like body image and peer pressure. Adult education programs teach about birth control, general healthcare, pregnancy and family planning. Planned Parenthood health centers are a safe place for candid, accurate advice on sex and sexuality. The Organization has been providing these services for over 95 years through 75 locally governed affiliates that run 800 health care centers nationwide.  More than 90 percent of care provided in these health centers is preventative, primary care - a fact that is lost on those who inaccurately characterize Planned Parenthood as an "abortion provider." The local affiliate that I helped govern, for example, did not even provide abortion services - as there were adequate resources in this medical community to address that need.

It is, however, important that when women decide to terminate a pregnancy  there are provisions made for a safe and sanitary clinical procedure conducted by a qualified physician. Especially in areas where there is a lack of service providers. History teaches us one thing. Women will take the matter into their own hands under desperate circumstances, and put their own health and well-being at risk to manage family planning. Given that certain knowledge, it is nothing short of crass, politically-driven malpractice to deny this population control over their own bodies, access to safe clinics, and the right to chose their own course based on their own values.

I have a well-known position on access to health care and patient rights, gleaned from my years in the health care delivery system. And I have a sense of what it was like before women were handed control over their own reproductive systems. A dear friend of mine suffered through a back-ally, motel-based abortion before the procedure was legal. It was a horrifying experience for her and those of us who loved and supported her. I vowed then to work to ensure that kind of often injurious illicit procedure would go away so future generations of young women wouldn't be subject to such an unnecessary, intrusive, and out-of-line experience.

I am, therefore, very gratified to hear this kind of unequivocal statement from the President of the United States. 

A Call for Women to Rise Up

Laurie Penny writes in England's "The Independent" newspaper:

With women under attack financially, socially and sexually across the developed and developing world, with assaults on jobs, welfare, childcare, contraception and the right to choose, the time for polite conversation is over. It's time for anger. It's time for daring, direct action, big demands, big dreams. The men who still run the world from boardrooms and government offices have become too used to not being afraid of what women will do if we are attacked, used and exploited. We must make them afraid.

Intrigued? It's a great opinion piece that surely reflects the frustration of many. Read the article.

Women in Business Decry Fed Contract Lockout

Okay, let me set the stage for this bit of unwelcome news. Females are a statistical majority of the US population: 50.8% according to the US Census Bureau. Women own 30 percent of all privately-owned businesses in the country and are awarded an insulting, paltry 3.4% of all Federal contracts - which total billions of dollars every year. Sound fair to you? I didn't think so.

Well, it gets worse. A group of women business owners recently sued the feds for actively delaying the implementation of steps designed to address this obvious disparity, and WON in DC's Federal Circuit Court. So the courts agree, the government is in fact actively interfering with efforts to award a fair number of federal contracts to women-owned businesses. Worse, the feds are actually delaying implementation of new rules. What's up with that? Read the Washington Post article here.

So let me get this straight. The "ole boys" club, who have been rigorously maintaining the glass ceiling for years now, continue to hold women back - even though they are now a majority of the population. So much for "...by the people, for the people..." This is especially counterintuitive as researchers and activists around the world discover that the best way to alleviate poverty is to give women cell phones and access to credit. That's right. This is just another turf battle over control of power and wealth, at the end of the day. Conservative, angry white men have always called the shots in the US and that is going to change sometime very soon. So there's fear-and-loathing on Wall Street and in male-dominated small businesses across the contry. Well, get used to it. And get a grip. Business and the economy benefit from diversity and increased competition, so we're told. And I believe it.

International Women's Day 2007

Today the world celebrates International Women's Day. Conceived in 1911 by German activist Klara Zetkin, IWD seeks to honor and celebrate the contributions of women to society, the human race and the planet. The theme for 2007's event is "Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls." A very good cause that I have championed in a previous post.

It strikes me as a very appropriate moment to reflect on the role of women in our societies. With a declared female candidate for president of the United States, a female German Chancellor, a strong female contender for the French PM spot, and president "Ma Ellen" delivering Liberia from decades of strife, women are on the ascendancy. Some poetic justice in that, as stupid white men have mucked-up the planet with their short-sighted aggressive bluster, cowboy justice and insatiable lust for power and material possessions.

In some parts of the world, like Burma, it is a single female that stands bravely against oppression. As of today, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 11 years and 135 days under house arrest in her home country. All for speaking out for individual freedom and liberty. If you're planning a trip to Burma, don't go. There is simply no excuse for spending money and offering any support at all for this pariah nation.

Also today, China issued its annual "Human Rights Record of the United States" report. To provide some perspective for our own IWD events, I thought I'd cut-and-paste some of that report's findings regarding the human rights of women in the U.S. So here goes:

"Women in the United States do not share equal rights with men in politics. Despite the fact that women outnumber men in the U.S. population, they hold only 82 seats in the 109th U.S. Congress, including 14 seats or 14 percent of the Senate and 68 or 15.6 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives. Low-income American women lack proper labor protection and social security and live a hard life. A survey by the Community Service Society showed that among low-income working mothers living on less than 32,000 U.S. dollars for a family of three, more than half were not entitled to even a single day of paid sick leave; 61 percent did not have paid vacation; and 80 percent did not receive any employee health benefits for themselves or their children. In 2005, 37 percent of the low-wage mothers had to give up necessary medical care, and a third had their electricity or phone turned off because they could not pay the bills. Forty-three percent had to rely on food pantries, and 42 percent fell behind in their rent."

How to get involved: Check out Women for Women, an organization that facilitates women sponsoring other women in third word countries.