My Planned Parenthood story

Planned Parenthood is facing funding cuts.

That’s bullshit.

Many people hate Planned Parenthood because they think it only provides abortion services.

Well, guess what. That’s not true.

Planned Parenthood provides:

Affordable contraceptives. Pregnancy tests. Confidential and friendly exams. STD testing (btw, ladies. Go get screened for HPV if you haven’t. Half the men – HALF – in the U.S., Brazil and Mexico have it. Some forms cause genital, anal and oral cancer. Sexy, right?) HIV testing. Pelvic exams…

Abortion is one service and as sensitive as a subject it is, it’s necessary (at times).

Here’s the rest of the list.

So, why do I support Planned Parenthood?

Here’s my story:

I was 17 when I started to research where to find birth control pills. I asked my friends and searched online for a few weeks. The search was not fun. I felt weird asking my friends, and many of them thought I was strange for even thinking about taking “the pill.” Thankfully, I trudged forth and made an appointment at the local (as in 20 miles away) Planned Parenthood…from a pay phone.

The first time I went, I asked a girlfriend to come with me. I was scared to death, but the nurse who gave me my exam was awesome. She didn’t judge – she was friendly. And above all else, she appreciated that I took my health seriously; I wasn’t going to cross my fingers and hope condoms worked.

Planned Parenthood provided affordable birth control and condoms to me for a year. After that I found my own doctor.

You can support Planned Parenthood here.

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