Discussion: Planned Parenthood

[Franklin Richards]

If it's so little then why is everyone worried about it?

 

[Schlosser85]

Who's worried about it?

 

[Franklin Richards]

The one's who want to cut the investment into birth control. It's too little to worry about until it's targeted for extermination?


A few pennies spent on birth control for low income families is money well spent. If you're looking for cuts, look into bigger fish. Like the military. Their air conditioning last year cost more than the entire budget for NASA.

 

[hippie_hunter]

^ This.

Save coupons and subsidies for necessities. Not a condom you can get from a vending machine for a quarter.

Not only that, but you can get a box of 36 Trojans for $9 at Wal-Mart. When you do the math, it comes down to 25 cents a condom and they're easily accessible. You can even order them online with free shipping if you're too embarrassed to go to the store and get some.

 

[hippie_hunter]

If it's so little then why is everyone worried about it?

The point is that if you can't afford something that costs a mere 25 cents you have problems. I'm not rolling in dough but I can find a ****load of quarters in my house.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Condoms aren't the only form of birth control. Women need a little more for The Pill.

 

[hippie_hunter]

The one's who want to cut the investment into birth control. It's too little to worry about until it's targeted for extermination?


A few pennies spent on birth control for low income families is money well spent. If you're looking for cuts, look into bigger fish. Like the military. Their air conditioning last year cost more than the entire budget for NASA.

The military does need to get cut. There is waaay too much waste going into programs that are either bloated or unnecessary.

You see, when my parents taught me how to budget, they showed me that you have to look at everything from the big to the small. Everything counts.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Condoms aren't the only form of birth control. Women need a little more for The Pill.

I'd trust a condom over the pill. The pill may help with birth control, but it does nothing else against the other dangers involved with sex.

 

[Franklin Richards]

They aren't exclusive.


Use them both.

 

[Schlosser85]

^ Agreed again.

stds are as much an epidemic as unplanned pregnancies, and overall probably a more harmful one.

 

[hippie_hunter]

^ Agreed again.

stds are as much an epidemic as unplanned pregnancies, and overall probably a more harmful one.

Exactly. Condoms are a far more cost effective and safer method of birth control. And if used properly the 2% failure rate of condoms really isn't that big of a deal compared to the 0.3% failure rate of birth control pills.

 

[Handsome Rob]

So basically, we taxpayers are expected to:

1) pay for birth control options for the poor
2) pay welfare/healthcare for the poor when they choose not to exercise those options and have more babies that they can't afford or contract STDs.

I, as a taxpayer, hear all of this "responsibility" talk coming my way from some on the left. What about the poor? Have they no responsibilities of their own?

 

[redhawk23]

Oh boo frickin hoo!

Go ahead and have sex, just use protection, is that so hard?

Yes, protection is needed to have sex responsibly.

Many people rely on Planned Parenthood for affordable contraception methods, not free, simply affordable.

Like most other prescription medications, birth control is needlessly expensive in this country.

Planned Parenthood helps to prevent far more pregnancies than it helps terminate.

Furthermore, planned parenthood is a fairly good source of accurate information on sexual health. Some of you have asked if the people getting pregnant are uneducated, and sadly that is often indeed the case. Handsome Rob is right in saying that the responsibility should fall on the people themselves. I understand people that will take issue with the abortion aspect of the organization, but on what principle does someone oppose providing the knowledge and resources to make responsible choices? And also, beyond the services they provide themselves Planned Parenthood helps people understand and deal with what is necessary to take care of themselves durring their pregnancy. It is a matter of information and guidance that helps prevent even more health care costs.

 

[redhawk23]

What I personally have never understood is the fact that our teenage sexual activity rate is not reported as being significantly higher than other industrialized nations, the rates mostly the same between the United States, France and Sweden and yet our teenage pregnancy rate is usually reported as close to four times that of those two countries. What exactly is going on there?

 

[StorminNorman]

If it's so little then why is everyone worried about it?

Morality.

Poor people don't have a right to a penny of my money any more than I have a right to a penny of yours. The cost is irrelevant.

It is detrimental for society as a whole to have a government that has handouts - no matter how well intentioned those handouts are.

 

[redhawk23]

And yet countries with more "handouts" have more effective healthcare, a healthier populace, lower pregnancy rates, lower poverty rates and more stable economies.

While I don propose that the United States should or even can implement similar programs, I do have ask at what line is the line draw between your monetary morality and compassion?

 

[StorminNorman]

And yet countries with more "handouts" have more effective healthcare, a healthier populace, lower pregnancy rates, lower poverty rates and more stable economies.

While I don propose that the United States should or even can implement similar programs, I do have ask at what line is the line draw between your monetary morality and compassion?

There is nothing compassionate about forcing group A to pay for group B. Government programs are enforced by the point of a gun. You want to be compassionate? Fine. Volunteer your money. I am all for charity, I am all for compassion - there is just no such thing as compassionate taxation.

The above comparison between America and Europe can be attributed to culture rather than government programs. Healthcare and diet, for example.

 

[redhawk23]

There is nothing compassionate about forcing group A to pay for group B. Government programs are enforced by the point of a gun. You want to be compassionate? Fine. Volunteer your money. I am all for charity, I am all for compassion - you can't have coerce people into being compassion.

The above comparison between America and Europe can be attributed to culture rather than government programs. Healthcare and diet, for example.

You mean healthcare thats more widely available and affordable? Yeah.

and as for their lower pregnancy rates despite having the same rates of sexual activity, contraceptive resources are more widely available and affordable. You're right, there are cultural differences. They are generally less judgmental about the situation and offer a hell of a lot more support and education. Look up the data and look at the outcomes. They have lower pregnancy rates and less of those who do have children young slip into poverty.

 

[Marx]

If it's so little then why is everyone worried about it?

That's what I'm wondering about man.

Morality.

Poor people don't have a right to a penny of my money any more than I have a right to a penny of yours. The cost is irrelevant.

It is detrimental for society as a whole to have a government that has handouts - no matter how well intentioned those handouts are.

There are two sides to your 'morality' coin.

 

[StorminNorman]

That's what I'm wondering about man.



There are two sides to your 'morality' coin.

Give the other side.

 

[Marx]

The other side has already been given in this thread. You argue in favor of more financially stable, middle to upper class people. I argue in favor of more financially unstable, lower class people.

I can see your point. I really can. I just don't believe that it's right to leave poorer people to fend for themselves. Planned Parenthood is about a lot more than abortion procedures and birth control. (As has been said in this thread already.)

 

[StorminNorman]

The other side has already been given in this thread. You argue in favor of more financially stable, middle to upper class people. I argue in favor of more financially unstable, lower class people.

I can see your point. I really can. I just don't believe that it's right to leave poorer people to fend for themselves. Planned Parenthood is about a lot more than abortion procedures and birth control. (As has been said in this thread already.)

I am not arguing in favor of the "financially stable", I am arguing in favor of basic law and morality. I don't believe poor people should be forced to "fend for themselves", but charity must be voluntary.

The question you have to ask yourself is "do the ends justify the means". I think the means matter.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Many people rely on Planned Parenthood for affordable contraception methods, not free, simply affordable.

Like most other prescription medications, birth control is needlessly expensive in this country.

It's already affordable. A good condom costs 25 cents for crying out loud!

 

[Trainwreck2100]

It's already affordable. A good condom costs 25 cents for crying out loud!

where the hell are you shopping $12 for a nine pack at CVS

 

[Franklin Richards]

I am not arguing in favor of the "financially stable", I am arguing in favor of basic law and morality. I don't believe poor people should be forced to "fend for themselves", but charity must be voluntary.

The question you have to ask yourself is "do the ends justify the means". I think the means matter.

Your charity sounds more like sponsorship. Do you wait and see if the bartender is looking when you put money in the tip jar?