Stop Saying Abortion: Planned Parenthood Provides MEDICAL SERVICES.

[IdaBriggs]

The details of those services are NO ONE'S BUSINESS but the patients.

I am PRO-MEDICAL SERVICES. I am ANTI-No-Medical-Services.

I am not interested in the *details* of medical services. If you wanted to make me watch open heart surgery, I would vomit and run away. This does not mean people who want to get open heart surgery shouldn't get it - it means I'M NOT A DOCTOR, and PRIVILEGE should apply.

Planned Parenthood provides a variety of medical services to many people. Unless you are getting such a service, what goes on behind their doors is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS get to make appropriate decisions about MEDICAL SERVICES.

Just. Stop. Talking. About. ABORTION.

End Rant.

[el_bryanto]

1. I agree with the sentiment

But seems unlikely that our esteemed entities on the other side of the fence are going to drop this.

Bryant

[Puzzledtraveller]

2. Supporters may not either

if it is reduced to a medical service then it may cause it to appear as something easier, or more likely regulated. More than it already is. IMO.

[niyad]

6. reduced? abortions are only about THREE percent of what PP provides--sounds like

medical services to me.

and, in reality, no matter what we call it, the woman-haters will go to any lengths to prevent women from getting the care and treatment they need.

[Puzzledtraveller]

8. Im talking about the terminology

In the debate at large. I should have specified I wasn't talking about PP. I am a medicaid caseworker and make referrals to PP all the time. Mostly for pregnancy verifications as we cannot refer for abortions.

[IdaBriggs]

3. Who cares? They say "abortion" and we say "medical services."

Change the freaking subject to the fact they hate women getting MEDICAL SERVICES.

They don't like medical privacy? Maybe their employers need to know about their medical issues?

MEDICAL SERVICES and the associated privacy to receive them are sacrosant. NOBODY takes pictures of patients going to a heart specialist or an allergist or on their way to dialysis.

NOBODY should be protesting women receiving MEDICAL SERVICES.

[SoapBox]

4. +1,000

[niyad]

5. k and r

[cynatnite]

7. Abortion is one of the medical services they supply...

I don't understand the anger.

[IdaBriggs]

10. My anger is because "abortion" is the topic when MEDICAL SERVICES to women

are the REAL issue.

Can you think of any other organization that is KNOWN for providing MEDICAL SERVICES to women?

But under the guise of protesting *ONE* very *small* service they provide, MORONS stand around outside their facilities attempting to intimidate and harrass the people who need their services, and lawsuits have to be filed to keep them funded.

And it is a legal situation - these people don't stand around outside meth labs protesting the danger to the community - they attempt to intimidate WOMEN from getting MEDICAL SERVICES.

ENOUGH. We need to quit trying to win the argument using INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE and start using COMMON FREAKING SENSE.

MEDICAL SERVICES are PRIVATE. The types of medical services people receive are NOBODY'S BUSINESS EXCEPT THE DOCTOR AND THE PATIENT.

Still ranting. Sorry.

[KharmaTrain]

15. Corporate Media Framing...

...another Frank Luntz production. For too many years those of us in favor of woman's health care and choice were pillored in the media that made the focus on abortion. It wasn't a focus, it was and still is a fascination. It's a game where right wing tropes have and will die hard and that any time women's sexuality is invoked...even as far as health...then abortion is automatically implied and the right wing memes flow like water.

Women are winning the argument...not in the media, but at the ballot box and that's all that matters. The people who need to hear your message are the old, pasty white guys who dominate the beltway media and are still locked in 80s and 90s political tropes that have long been rejected by a majority of not just women but men as well.

I was heartened at the strong response in favor of Planned Parenthood last year and how its becoming politically toxic to attack them. This is a big change from the past but there's still a lot of battles and education to go...

Cheers...

[cynatnite]

22. I've come to the conclusion that there is no reasoning with anti-choicers...

It's a complete waste of time. They will always focus on abortion even if it was 1 per year. It doesn't matter to them.

I have better luck reasoning with my dog.

Thanks for clarifying. I totally understand your frustration.

[SidDithers]

9. Why? Is an abortion something to be ashamed of?...

Don't give in to the anti-abortion framing.

There is nothing wrong with the term "abortion".

Sid

[IdaBriggs]

12. An abortion is NOBODY'S BUSINESS.

Just like kidney dialysis is NOBODY'S BUSINESS. Or heart surgery. Or cancer treatments.

This isn't about "abortion is bad" framing - this is about MEDICAL PRIVACY and the unmitigated GALL of fools who think they have any business interfering in doctor/patient privilege.

[Ilsa]

11. ITA. And 97% of those services

are eligible for reimbursement as nonabortion services. I wish it didn't matter, but people need to realize that PP provides pap smears, breast exams, blood pressure checks, health counseling, birth control, all basic health services for women.

[cali]

13. Ida. I understand your frustration but I disagree.

The more we let wingnuts chase us away from using appropriate language, the further in the weeds we get. We cannot let them dictate vocabulary.

We need abortion to be accessible; not just vague medical services: ABORTION.

I don't think we should stop talking about it at all.

[IdaBriggs]

17. We disagree on the method, but not the goal: good health care for women.

In some cases that means access to abortion or "abortion like" procedures.

I want to take the focus off of abortion because it SHOULDN'T be an issue.

People who want to take away access to MEDICAL SERVICES for women (and the fact they think they have a right to PICK AND CHOOSE which services a women should have access to just drives me crazy) need to Just. Shut. Up.

Don't need medical services? Don't get them. Want medical services? Talk to a doctor.

NO ONE should be taking photos of you walking into a medical clinic. NO ONE should be trying to make someone get a non-medically necessary procedure. NO ONE.

[cali]

20. So should this woman not have shared this story?

I Tested and I Terminated and I Do Not Regret by Anonymous

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thinplaces/2013/02/i-tested-and-i-terminated-and-i-do-not-regret-by-anonymous/

Of course, abortion is going to be discussed. So is end of life care and lots of other specific medical issues. And they should be.

We agree that no one should be harassing anyone walking into a clinic or tying to take away medical services for women, but pretending that we can not say the word abortion is magical thinking and it doesn't work.

[IdaBriggs]

21. Talking about the choices we make is NOT the same thing

as the anti-Medical Services people are doing.

We talk about cancer, heart disease, infertility, and how old are children are when they get potty trained.

NOBODY stands around pointing signs at people because of it. NOBODY tries to defund medical clinics because of it.

I am not advocating "word magic" - I am advocating for Changing the Topic of Discussion.

At the end of the day, that is the *real* issue to me - we aren't even talking about the same thing, but since we are all using the same words, people think we are.

I support Planned Parenthood. I support women receiving Medical Services. I support medical privacy.

I don't need any further details to live a happy life and neither does anyone else.

[cynatnite]

24. The focus will always be abortion, but I don't think we should shift the focus either...

Abortion is a medical procedure that is between a patient and her doctor. IMO, this is how it should be framed. We shouldn't shift away from the word or hide what it is...a woman's choice to terminate her pregnancy for her own private reasons.

Abortion is a word we should not stop saying. To do so implies we should feel shame or hide it and it promotes the stigma associated with it.

[HappyMe]

14. I'm sorry, I don't understand

the reasoning behind this. If you stop saying abortion it's as if there is something to be ashamed about. Abortions are part of the services that PP provide. I think this may dilute the issue.

[IdaBriggs]

19. I think the constant discussion ABOUT abortion has diluted the issue.

3% of what Planned Parenthood does is abortion related, and that includes D&C from miscarriages.

This framing - abortion as anything but a medical decision between a woman and her doctor - is repugnant.

MEDICAL SERVICES are private. Abortion is legal, and is simply one of MANY medical services (just like open heart surgery) that people sometimes get.

[HappyMe]

25. Changes to the words,

I'm sorry to say, isn't going to change the debate. If anything, they would start howling that sleight of hand is being used to bury the issue.

I don't think that there is any way to reason with those people.

[Avalux]

16. For this post, you get a heart!

I'm sure a lot of people think PP only performs abortions...they probably also believe the clinics are akin to torture chambers. Such is the ignorance of the American people.

Abortion is a medical procedure. It is one of the services PP provides, along with a lot of others, including pap smears and birth control for young women.

[IdaBriggs]

18. Thank you so much for it - I was wondering who gave it to me.

It made me smile (when I was busy being pissy because we even have to HAVE this discussion).

Thank you!!!

[Rex]

23. You related to Jack Briggs?

nt.