sentientcitizen:

queenofthecretaceous:

uglyorangecouch:

sentientcitizen:

queenofthecretaceous:

My town’s Planned Parenthood had booked a night with a homeopath to discuss more natural birth control options.
But, a whole bunch of people complained that Planned Parenthood shouldn’t support homeopathy so the event was cancelled.
While I don’t particularly love the idea of homeopathy myself,…

The problem is that homeopathy is… fake? Like, naturopathy, there is some merit to some aspects of naturopathy. But homeopathy is literally 100% a lie. If you tell a woman she can use homeopathy as birth control, you might as well be telling her that she can use wishful thinking as birth control. There are many “natural” birth control methods with some validity, like the rhythm method, but homeopathy? Is not one of them.

Planned Parenthood supporting homeopathy in any way shape or form really distresses me, because I’m not a big fan of lying to women. I’d be just as upset if they were holding a session on avoiding pregnancy via prayer. I would not trust a homeopath to provide valid medical advice for a pet hamster, much less a human woman, and I’m glad this event was cancelled.

I am with Essie on this one. Homeopathy is not the same as presenting natural birth options unless the entire message is “Using homeopathy is the same as using nothing because it isn’t a really and helpful thing. End of lesson.”

But they are having a homeopath in to discuss natural birth control options not “homeopathic birth control options”.  So we just rule a person out entirely to talk about a subject that is important and valuable because they also believe some shit?  If we did that in every case, no one could listen to anyone.  What happened to intellectual discussion instead of ruling someone out from the beginning, based on their one-word identity that you haven’t given them the chance to define themself? 
Seems backwards from what we normally stand for.  

Though, maybe they shouldn’t have highlighted homeopathy in the event title.  but otherwise the rhetoric behind the whole thing makes me uncomfortable.  

Believing one stupid thing does not disqualify you from being a really valuable resource about other topics. But in this case I think it’s kind of like getting a lecture on astrophysics from someone who thinks the moon landing was faked, or advice on pandemic preparation from someone in the anti-vaccine movement. The two things are too closely tied for me to trust that I’m getting good advice.

If a homeopath wants to give a lecture on art, or baking, or abstract mathematics, I’m not really going to have an objection. A belief in homeopathy does not preclude the ability to bake a really kick-add cupcake. Similarly, if Planned Parenthood wants to host a lecture on natural/non-hormonal birth control, I might not care to attend it, but I’m not going to judge anyone else for going. It’s when you combine the two that I start to have serious problems.

As usual, Essie puts my thoughts in much more eloquent words than I could.

Also The Albertan had some good commentary in the other thread:

But this isn’t a discussion, it’s a presentation to provide information (at least, as far as I understand your original post). As such, there is a responsibility on the part of the organizers to ensure the information is correct, and anyone who supports homeopathy cannot be trusted to provide correct information (on medical matters). While allowing everyone to participate in discussion is important, I wouldn’t let someone who believes the earth is flat teach geography.

sentientcitizen:

queenofthecretaceous:

My town’s Planned Parenthood had booked a night with a homeopath to discuss more natural birth control options.
But, a whole bunch of people complained that Planned Parenthood shouldn’t support homeopathy so the event was cancelled.
While I don’t particularly love the idea of homeopathy myself,…

The problem is that homeopathy is… fake? Like, naturopathy, there is some merit to some aspects of naturopathy. But homeopathy is literally 100% a lie. If you tell a woman she can use homeopathy as birth control, you might as well be telling her that she can use wishful thinking as birth control. There are many “natural” birth control methods with some validity, like the rhythm method, but homeopathy? Is not one of them.

Planned Parenthood supporting homeopathy in any way shape or form really distresses me, because I’m not a big fan of lying to women. I’d be just as upset if they were holding a session on avoiding pregnancy via prayer. I would not trust a homeopath to provide valid medical advice for a pet hamster, much less a human woman, and I’m glad this event was cancelled.

I am with Essie on this one. Homeopathy is not the same as presenting natural birth options unless the entire message is “Using homeopathy is the same as using nothing because it isn’t a really and helpful thing. End of lesson.”

choosechoice:

A fellow blogger approached me a little while ago and asked if she could write about a controversial topic. I leaned sometime ago that there are always two sides to a story and rarely does someone allow us access into such a private moment. I am honored to share her story.

With the current attack on Planned Parenthood, I feel like I need to share my story, even though I’m not proud of it. I have to do it anonymously, though, because I would hate for my son to ever know. Thanks to this blog for letting me share my story.

In February of 2004, I was fed up with my boyfriend. He didn’t help around the house, he smoked too much, smoked too much weed, barely worked, and basically treated me like crap. I was unhappy and so was he. I went over to a girlfriend’s house to drink wine and bitch, and she told me to leave. She was great with numbers, so we sat down and did some math to figure out if I could pay the rent and the car note and still afford to eat if I kicked him out. We discovered that I could and celebrated with more wine.

“Wouldn’t it suck if I kick him out and then find out I’m pregnant?” I jokingly asked her.

“I’ve got a pregnancy test from, like, two boyfriends ago if you want to do it.” she said. I did the test, absolutely POSITIVE that it would be negative. This was just a semi-drunken lark.

When the two blue lines appeared, I literally felt my knees go weak, and the bathroom went dark. I thought I might pass out.

I called my boyfriend and told him I was too drunk to drive home (I was.) and that I was going to spend the night with my friend. The next morning she drove me to Planned Parenthood. In a previous pregnancy scare (just a late period) my boyfriend had told me not to worry, if I was pregnant, we’d “deal with it” so I knew what his reaction would be. I wanted to know facts before I talked to him.

I peed in a cup for the Planned Parenthood staff and waited in a little room for the results. The counselor confirmed what I already knew. I was pregnant. The minute I heard it from a real person, I knew that I did NOT want an abortion. I burst into tears. The nice lady (oh, how I wish I remembered her name) asked me why I was crying.

“I didn’t want to get pregnant but I suddenly really want this baby. My boyfriend is going to flip and make me get an abortion” I told her.

“No one can make you get an abortion” she told me. “How can I help you?” We discussed stratgies of telling him and ways I could get support. I didn’t have health insurance or much money, so she helped me fill out the Medicaid paperwork. She advised me to tell people who would be happy about my pregnancy first, and then tell my boyfriend. She held my hand while I called my mom and my best friend. She then took me into a room with a speaker phone and let me call my boyfriend.

“Hey.” I said.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“We need to talk. I’m pregnant.” I told him.
A long pause.
“I’ll borrow some money from my mom,” he said. “We’ll get rid of it.”
The counselor held my hand.
“No.” I said. “I’ve already told my mom and Katie. I’m not having an abortion. You can go or you can stay, but I’m having this baby.”
He swore at me and hung up.
That night he said we’d get married, raise the baby together.
Five months later he left me.

It’s 5 years later, and he sees our son every other month and is a pretty good dad. I know without a doubt that he loves our son and our son loves him. But I also know, that without the support of a Planned Parenthood counselor, I would have given in to his pressure and had an abortion. I would have hated him and myself for the rest of my life. And I wouldn’t have my little boy.

Planned Parenthood is NOT the abortion factory that the media and conservatives make it out to be. It’s truly a place that gives women a CHOICE and then supports them 100% in that choice, whatever it may be. Please, before you vilify this organization, learn what they really do. There’s not a better organization helping woman in this country.

(via antichoicescreencaps)