Photo credit:  nateOne on Flickr

Free birth control a large part of Planned Parenthood’s business strategy?

Birth Control Pills (Photo credit: nateOne on Flickr)

Even though Lori Lamerand, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood in Mid and South Michigan, claims that abortions will not be done on the premises, the new Planned Parenthood Clinic in Ferndale was met with protests and pickets from the community earlier this month. Demonstrators object that the ethic of Planned Parenthood encourages promiscuity that leads to abortion.

“It doesn’t matter that abortions will not be performed in the Ferndale facility,” said Monica Miller in a press release. “When women come there for help they will be referred for abortions and bottom line—women deserve better than Planned Parenthood’s sexual ethic that is ultimately degrading and leads to the door of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics and the deaths of unborn children.”

Dr. Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, is also a moral theologian who warns that though Planned Parenthood claims to provide women’s health “services” for the needy, the problem is an issue of integrity.

According to Dr. Miller, “[a]ny organization that denies the sanctity of human life and kills innocent human beings must be opposed and our picket will draw attention to the injustice of abortion that Planned Parenthood advocates and actually facilitates.”

After being prevented from opening a mega-clinic in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Planned Parenthood has quietly moved into a smaller location in Ferndale. They say that they will offer primarily “family planning services,” also known as “health care” or “reproductive health care,” and a “well women’s gynecological center” – all euphemisms for providing birth control.

While asserting that Planned Parenthood is “proud” to “terminate pregnancy,” Lamerand expressed a strange inconsistency saying, “97% of what we do is to prevent the 3% of what we do!” This intrinsic conflict is not reflected in the successful operation of Planned Parenthood. In fact, it is this weird 97%-3% ratio that is not only not dividing the company’s dynamic, but fostering it. “That 3% figure represents over 300,000 abortions a year—nearly one-third of all the abortions performed in the United States annually…generating 41% of the organization’s total clinic revenue!” says Miller. “It’s their cash cow!”

Miller stresses that birth control is the first aspect of the cyclical business model of Planned Parenthood: “Their primary mission is to provide contraception on the one end, abortion on the other end and a philosophy that encourages sexual promiscuity in-between.”

In other words, a much more believable dynamic for Planned Parenthood is that they provide free birth control that will draw young women and poor women in, and when they can’t afford to have their baby, these women come back for an abortion.

“Planned Parenthood tries very hard to pass itself off as a group providing needed medical services to lower-income women … they say they will complement Ferncare, Ferndale’s free clinic, which does not provide OB/GYN care.  However, Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide those services either! Planned Parenthood lies when it says they provide breast cancer screenings – because they don’t! Most of their clinics do not provide pap smears or pre-natal care of any kind – services that women really need,” says Miller.

According to Barb Yagley of Central Oakland Right to Life, “Planned Parenthood’s ‘prevention’ services do not prevent the problems they claim to prevent…particularly sexually transmitted diseases. And they are not the only place for people to go for services around here.”

“Covenant Community Care is two miles north at 27776 Woodward Avenue. They are a full-service medical provider, offering all the services that the Ferndale clinic says they provide. They care for the total person, for men, women, and children, are federally qualified, and they will help you if you have diabetes, heart problems, etc. They even offer birth control. The only thing they don’t do is give abortion referrals.”

Yagley “feels bad” about what Planned Parenthood’s messages do to young people today. “They want love, they want marriage – not abortion – not single parenthood,” she says. “Planned Parenthood promotes the idea of using people. Their attitude is, ‘let the young people decide when to have sex,’ and they end up with multiple partners and exposed to disease. Their pain is not being acknowledged by anyone but us. We have a better message. We need those who will love and cherish us!”

  • oldmanbob

    PP;’s idea is so simple it pains me to point it out.  The more sex the more unplanned babies the more money PP can make.  If STD’s happen so what.   That rubbers don’t often work and the pill must be taken just right and must be the right pill means nothing to PP except that every goof up is a chance to make more money.

    This Friday my wife and I will help out at a Silver Ring Thing event to help young folks wait till marriage put on by our local PCC.  We hope to have nothing to do, nonetheless this is the real world and the carnage caused in so small part by PP will keep our PCC busy and many  more  like it for a long time.

    • nomorepill4me

      Right on, Bob.  When I was in my 20’s, I was never told by anyone at PP or at our college health clinic that you had to take the Pill AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY in order for it to be most effective.  Plus, PP and our college clinic both told us that if we missed a pill or even 2 or 3, we could just “catch up” by taking the missed pills.  I even asked if I should use condoms if I missed a Pill and was told, no that’s not necessary.  Well, it is!  if you’re trying to actually prevent conception.  Ah, but how would PP make so much money if conception were actually prevented?   The Pill: it’s a gateway drug to abortion.

      • Michelle M. Williams

         The pill is a gateway drug? LMMFAO

      • Guest

        That’s interesting that you point out the fact that PP doesn’t provide instructions on how to use the pill… I had the same experience. When I was 18 I went to PP for Bc and they never told me how to use it. But they were very quick to issue it. It’s very obvious what the goal is for PP. They want scared young girls to get pregnant then have an abortion. Thank God I never got pregnant because my experiences as a very young woman bother me today. I wish I had waited and I wish I had not been in a situation where I had to go to PP (no health insurance and my desire to be “responsible” took me there). I think that the pill is used to lead young women to believe they have the freedom to do as they wish. There should be an institution like PP that actually does help people plan their parenthood… not lead them to unintended parenthood. That provides couples counseling and prenatal education. That shows people the huge responsibilities that come with parenting on financial, emotional, and physical aspects. Not a place that is condom happy and passes out bc pills like they’re skittles. And a place that involves parents of the young people to guide those parents on issues of how to talk to their teenagers on how to deal with sex and promiscuity pressures. And people might say once you’re 18 you can do what you want, but I think that’s when children need their parents the most. Because you’re just learning how to deal with so many issues at that point (hopefully because many kids are having sex at much younger ages).

        • Michelle M. Williams

           So you are pretty much blaming PP and the birth control pill for your poor choices that you regret? And you also have no evidence that you wouldn’t have still made poor choices had you not had Planned Parenthood and the pill. In fact, it actually could have ended up worse. But hindsight is 20/20, eh?

          • pofalici

            She would have made farf less “poor choices” maybe none. I know, I was under the impression I would get pregnant every time I had sex. Wow. talk about scared straight. The abortion industry has taken away the fear of pregnancy without the possibility of it and thus encouraging sexual behavior expecially from girls who needed the excuse of not wanting to get pregnant rather than being able to say no. I saw & young woman who’s progressive parents told her “come to us when u r ready to be sexually active & we will take you to PP to get set up so you can be responsible.” Well, she DIDN’T get pregnant, she got full-blown aids & was dieing. Pills and most contraceptives do are only partially effective against pregnancy & Not at all against sexually transmitted diseases.

          • Michelle M. Williams

            I’m sorry that you were given such erroneous information about human sexuality and biology. Even without any protection you still won’t get pregnant every time you have sex. I am glad that my parents never felt like they had to lie to me to manipulate my behavior a certain way. I’m 26 and I have managed to never be pregnant, never get an STD, never use drugs, don’t smoke, and my criminal record doesn’t go beyond one single speeding ticket without my parents having to use falsehoods or deception.

            The birth control pill just protects against pregnancy. It doesn’t immunize people from being stupid. Don’t blame the pill for people deciding to be stupid. Please tell me which birth control pill commercial that you have seen that doesn’t explicitly state that the pill does not protect against STDs and AIDS, or any packaging on birth control pills that doesn’t state that it doesn’t protect against STDs and AIDS, or a middle school health class that doesn’t mention that (well maybe an abstinence only health class might fail to mention it).

            I’m looking at the instructions of my pamphlet that comes along with my Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills and the first statement it hands, in bolden lettering is “This product (like all oral contraception) does not protect against HIV infection (AIDS) and other sexually transmitted diseases.” It’s also noted several other times in the pamphlet as well as right on the front of the packaging in large bold letters.

            If I am to believe your anecdotal story than it is better that she was on the pill instead of getting AIDS and getting pregnant as well. Maybe I am to believe your friend was deaf, blind, and illiterate if you want to blame the pill for her getting AIDS.

            BTW, far less than 1% (actual numbers are around 0.3%) of the US population has HIV despite the fact that 98% of Americans have premarital sex. But considering how you grew up it sounds like you believe everyone who has sex is going to get knocked up and get every STD that exists. And as far as STDs go the number of all STDs, with the exception of chlamydia which is entirely curable and has better detection methods in the past, have all gone DOWN in the past decade.

            And why should young women say no to sex if that’s what they want to do? To appease you? People are biologically programmed to have sex, whether married or not. And not everyone believes in marriage. And why should women be the only ones to say no? Do you believe that men are the only wants that want sex or that women are the only ones that can control themselves? Either one of those views is incredibly sexist.

            And before the pill existed most women still had premarital sex. The only socities that have been mostly successful at eliminating premarital sex are draconian socities such as modern day Afghanistan. The idea that most women in the US in 1950s and previously didn’t have premarital sex is a myth. Some societies have gone as far as clitorectomies or foot binding to control women. It’s generally not a good idea for society to go down that path.

            If the only thing that is stopping you from having orgies in the street is the birth control pill you have some deep seeded issues with human sexuality.

        • hayley

          Did you ask? What’s that I hear… the idea of ‘pro-activeness about my own health’ rather than just being ignorant and unwanted to learn? If someone offers a prescription of any kind do you not ask questions is it’s not immediately clear to you? Even if it is? Just to be sure? You ask, how/when do I take this? What are the side effects?
          You should be careful with yourself if you don’t proactively look out for your health and you take any random pill someone gives you without asking questions…
          Why are you so angry other people are being proactive and taking care of themselves in the way THEY see fit? Just as you do? Can you not just be happy with what you do and let others do as THEY see fit? Just as you do?

          • grdawg

            I’m great with people taking care of themselves as they see fit. What I’m not ok with is when they choose to kill another innocent person and call that personal health.

      • prolifepagans

        How much you can miss depends with the type of pill.  With the combination types that use both estrogen and progestins you can miss a day or two, but with the progestin-only “mini-pill” if you’re only three hours late sex without a barrier is considered unprotected, and they recommend Plan B.  Since the purpose of the “mini-pill” is presumably to minimize exposure to external hormones, taking Plan B pretty much defeats that purpose.  Moreover, both mini-pills and Plan B have been linked to an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy,  There have been questions about whether a uterine lining thinned by hormonal contraception is actually abortive, and but an ectopic pregnancy definitely is.

        • Michelle M. Williams

          Mini pills/Progesterone-Only pills are almost never prescribed to teenagers. Those are generally only prescribed to nursing mothers who want to space their children out. Estrogen decreases milk production so combo pills are out for them. The vast majority of pills for most other women are combination pills. Either way there is a move away from combo pills and for non-daily forms of contraception like the Nuvaring, Depo-provera  and Implanon to decrease the risk of human error for birth control.

  • detroiter327

    Considering I live and was raised in Wayne county and work in Ferndale, I was extremely interested to read this article. I feel the one thing that anyone who is not from the area needs to take into context is Ferndale’s location and demographic. The area, and esp. this clinic are within walking distance of Detroit. This clinic is also near several major bus routes. I dont undertand how anyone who is even slightly familiar with the horrible state of Detroit hospitals (or hell the transit system while we are at it) can argue against one more easily accessible option for any kind of preventative care or family planning option. While Planned Parenthood may not provide prenatal care there are several other services that they do. STDs lead to a whole host of problems and women need to feel comfortable to even walk into the door to get the test done. Also (more context for people not from the area) Ferndale is viewed as a younger, hip area with a huge population of gay people. Perhaps going to a “faith based” like the one you referred would make some women (or men) uncomfortable and discourage them from going. 

    There are too many unintended and underage pregnancies and the solution needs to be viewed as multi faceted. Do too many teenagers view sex casually? Yes. Are many teenagers going to ignore an abstinence based message from a religious based organization and have sex anyways? Yes. Its best to make sure they are prepared. I also find it very odd you decided to end the article with that particular quote. Not all people view marriage as an end goal (esp. since im sure many gay people will end up in this clinic and we all know at the moment they cant get married) , not all people who have had multiple partners are “in pain”, and having had multiple partners does not disqualify you from finding love or being in a stable healthy relationship. 

    • Karen A Dudek

      STDs are not even tested for at PP unless requested which is grossly irresponsible for the epidemic we are experiencing.  By the time a young woman gets pregnant, she is carrying 2.2 diseases according to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Give Yagley some credit for her years of counseling youth. She sees the pain and the lies. Human beings were not made to be used and disgarded.  Why do you people put so much faith in BC? You say it ‘prepares’ kids who are going to have sex when the kids don’t use it or use it right and it fails. So you disagree that abortion, single parenthood, disease and multiple partners are not hurtful and that the notion of being loved and cherished is odd? Please don’t tell us what you think is healthy then!

      • Michelle M. Williams

        Why are you keep blaming the pill for humor error and people being careless? The birth control pill does not equate to all common sense flying out the window. And not having access to the pill would not make everyone become “chaste”. Most women and girls today don’t go on the pill due to the risk of human error and are more likely to go on depo or the nuvaring. It’s probably why the teen pregnancy rate is the lowest it has been in the 70 years the CDC has kept records. There has also been increased usage of the IUD and doctors are not shying away from it like they used to. And the number of abortions have gone down despite the population of the US having increased.

        And just because you stay a virgin does not mean you will be “loved and cherished” by your husband or even necessarily get married at all. And having sex premarital does not mean you are not loved and cherished. Why do you equate having or not having sex with these things? And married women can face unwanted pregnancy as well. Most unwanted pregnancies and abortions are not with “kids” but are with grown people.

        Just face it, you are anti-sex and that’s what your main issue is.

  • Michelle M. Williams

    I’m sorry but virtually every woman I know between the ages of 14-60 something has been on the pill at some time in her life. Being automatically on the pill didn’t turn any of us into raging nymphets but sometimes gave us the benefit of controlling our acne or having lighter periods.

    • Mugsylee

      Controlling acne and having lighter periods are beneficial side effects. However, you are being intellectually disengenuous. Neither off label application for birth control pills addresses the fact that a woman, so prescribed, will falsely percieve that she is protected from unwanted conception, as well as zits. Missing a single dose or taking the pill incorrectly may lead to pregnancy, not blemishes.

      • Michelle M. Williams

         And a lot of people don’t wear their bicycle helmets correctly or get an incorrect size etc. It doesn’t complete invalidate the bicycle helmet.

        • Karen A Dudek

           Funny, but not really a great analogy as I am sure you know Michelle. Pregnancy should not be compared to a closed-head injury anyway. The Pill is prescribed sometimes for therapeutic reasons but a lot of Ob/Gyns don’t like it for its risky side-effects. Aside from blood clots and stroke, the Pill is a type 1 carcinogen, right up there with tobacco and asbestos. STDs are increased with every exposure and they are sometimes fatal, incurable and lead to infertility which is skyrocketing today. We need to know these things! The Pill does not make us safe.

          • Michelle M. Williams

             1. The analogy was being made to the fact that the proper in use of an inanimate object does not invalidate the original purpose of the inanimate object. Either way the fact that human error exists is why other forms of birth control that don’t involve daily use have also been invented.

            2. Of course the pill doesn’t protect against AIDS or STDS. That is known to everyone who has had a 7th grade healthclass. It is written all over any packaging and documentation about the birth control pill and is said in any birth control pill commercial. At the same time I don’t know anyone who went on the pill and automatically decided to have lots of sex with random people without condoms like you guys seem to be suggesting. I’ve known women from all walks of life on the pill including virgins, married women, and lesbians. But I guess conservative logic means woman on pill = promiscuous harlot that doesn’t use condoms.

            3. The pill can have side effects but these are very rare. Everything, including over the counter medication has potentially life threatening side effects. I found out last year I have an extra sensitivity to Tylenol and I hope my liver hasn’t suffered long term damage from it. I had a close friend who ended up in the hospital for over over a month and nearly died thanks to bleeding ulcers from Ibuprofen. I have also had 2 very scary side effects from prescription medication. (Not the birth control pill). It doesn’t mean that these things should be taken off the market or they do not work out well and as intended for the vast majority of people.

  • Karen A Dudek

    detroiter and Michelle, this article is about PP’s agenda and how they use BC to begin a cycle to feed their industry. Nomorepill4me gets it. Even the person who took this photograph says that the Pill is ineffective. People should be warned about such agendas and avoid PP. Look at the article again. They do not provide the services they say they provide. And as far as ‘helping poor women’ in need of BC, well, that’s a level of trust that is undeserved. Be careful with that free BC. You get what you pay for. 

  • cemiller108

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  • Joe Sackett

    Giving condoms to teenagers is like a dentist giving candy. No one makes money on “Free” Condoms… oh, wait, she needs an abortion, she got STD’s, she got HIV. Medical Clinics make fortunes on “Free” Condoms

    • Michelle M. Williams

       Most doctors who work for clinics such as Planned Parenthood are often some of the poorest MDs. No one is making a fortune at these clinics. But it’s amusing how you think that if a woman or girl has premarital sex she will get a ton of STDs and get pregnant while if she just stays a virgin until she is married, she will live happily ever after.

      • Oedipa

        They’ve certainly worn out the theme around here that PP is all just about a big capricious money-raking sex-addicting business model for fat cat baby killers. It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad.

    • Detroiter327

      Again. For the 3rd time. Do you really believe that abstinence has to be the only option? Are you so stubborn to believe that if someone does not heed your message the next best thing is nothing at all?!? There need to be several realistic approaches to the problem. People are having sex with condoms, without condoms. If they are going to have sex at all wouldnt you prefer they take some preventative measure? 

      • Michelle M. Williams

         It’s a very black and white world for some people. You are either a virginal, chaste woman and then everything will go right for you in your life. If you have premarital sex you will have unwanted pregnancies, get AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, be an emotional wreck, end up on heroin and crack, and never be loved. There is no in between. The fact that there are literally hundreds of millions of people who have used birth control and condoms successfully is of no importance. The fact that teen pregnancies have been falling for decades and is at a new historic low is of no importance. And the fact that 98% of all Americans have premarital sex is of no importance. Facts don’t matter, just religiosity.

      • MoonChild02

        No, we don’t believe abstinence to be the only option. There’s also Natural Family Planning.
        However, what I think Joe is getting at is the fact that even the Guttmacher Institute says that 54% of women who get an abortion were using birth control when they became pregnant. Not to mention that Carol Everett, former abortion clinic manager, admitted, in the film Blood Money, to giving women and girls low dose birth control pills and cheap condoms to get them to come in for abortions.

        • Detroiter327

          How does natural family planning protect you from STD’s?Please note I was referring in large portion to STD prevention when referencing condoms above.  Even though many women who had abortion were on BC, that still does not erase the fact that  (even using statistics from the Christian Family Planning org) that over 92% of them do not! BC has never been advertised as fail proof. 
          Please apply the same logic of failure rates you do to BC to other medications, treatments etc.  In fact no medical treatment is 100% (or even close to that). I can just see it now… “With this cholesterol medication you have a large chance of avoiding heart attacks and decreasing blood pressure” “But what is the percent Dr? If its less then 92% its not effective at all!” (Chucks medicine out the window). If you were to practice preventative measures, take pills, or only undergo procedures with unrealistic return rates… you better hope you have no serious medical problems… because there will be nothing to help you. It would also help when referencing material, that it was not 15 years old and one isolated narrative. 

  • Detroiter327

    Lets break this down here. Im sorry I didnt acknowledge your analysis about the (unverified) conspiracy of some global soul sucking teenage mutant birth control conspiracy.  You say I did not “get” your analysis. Perhaps thats because the Ferndale PP, and interviews dealing with it , are brought up in over half the paragraphs of your article, diverting from your point. Considering the Ferdale PP is such a large portion of your article, context is vital. You inaccurately implied that Ferndale PP is advertising services they do not provide. Have they ever advertised prenatal care? No. A large portion of what they will also be doing is STD tests and prevention, also benefiting the large LGBT community of Ferndale (which again went unmentioned). If you truly believe this is an epidemic how can you want to limit the places people get tested, informed, and treated for them?  Again access is a huge issue here. Please be my guest and attempt to get around Detroit/Metro Detroit by bus. Also, being in a comfortable surrounding is integral to wanting to get tested for STDs. You so easily scoffed and dismissed someone who has sex with multiple people as “unhealthy” and linked them to being diseased. That kind of moral eyerolling is exactly what deters people from coming in and getting tested in the first place.Instead, in fact you actually doubled down that anyone who has had multiple partners is automatically disqualified form being “loved and cherished”. 
    In order to best help a teenager who is thinking about becoming sexually active, you also need to prepare them for what happens if they dont heed your abstinence only message. NO ONE wants their children out having sex but dismissing condoms as purely ineffective is only harming them. There is a reason this is filed under analysis and not news. You paired far flung inferences with a vendetta against PP Ferndale, and peppered it with some moral high ground. Nice job :) 

  • Mother M

    Karen Dudek; an opinion writer or a propagandist?  There would be little to no abortions should poor women have access to birth control. According to the CDC 88% of women who seek an abortion are between 17-25, single, working two minimum wage jobs to support their 2 LIVING children.  This is her first and last abortion and the zygote will be gone before the 5th week of gestation before brain tissue or heart muscle or lungs have begun to form. On average, she will pull 350. a month in food stamps and aid for her LIVING children.  This income doesn’t cover a third of her expenses, even working two minimum wage jobs, she will be forced to sell her food stamps to supplement her income; and her children will have to depend on free school lunches and soup kitchens for their daily sustenance.  The wealthy white men  you support  are dilligently working to end minimum wage, end medicaid  (90% of medicaid recipents are children), end free lunches, and eliminate the public school system in order to privatize only the education of those who can afford it.  By any sense of the word, these actions against women and children are immoral, inhumane, sadistic and barbaric.  Punish a woman and torture her children.     

    • Jane

      Poverty and single parenthood is not the point of this article. The author is not writing about how poverty effects abortion. She is talking about how PP manipulates women into buying a faulty product (birth control). Birth Control isn’t always effective and it can have harmful side effects on women. Birth Control was classified by the World Health Oranization as a carcinogen. This same category that World Health Organization placed tobacco products in. Don’t women deserve better than to be sold promiscuity and a carcinogen? I think so and as a women I would not want any daughters I may have to be on birth control.
      To address your concerns about poverty let me point out that the pro-life movement has been extremely generous with donating supplies, money, food etc. to poor single mothers. They do this because each life not matter how young is precious and irrepeatable. Every life deserves a chance. No one has the right to murder another out of convienance.

      • Michelle M. Williams

         Please tell me one prescription medication that has no possible unknown side effects and I’ll give you a million dollars. Without the pill I would have had 10 children by now which would be much worse for me medically than a small dose of hormones. The pill is very effective if it is used properly. If people can’t use it properly there are other methods.

      • Mother M

        Poverty has everything to do with forced incubation and a breeding program that will impoverish the masses; the middle classes are quickly slipping into poverty, take away the birth control pill and quicken the collapse of democracy. There would be no abortion if poor women had easy access to birth control.  CDC reports that 88% of all abortions occur before 4-5 weeks.  Two weeks after intercourse a woman isn’t pregnant; that leaves a 2-3 week old zygote with no brain cells, heart tissue, lungs… CDC’s demographic report cites this woman to be under 25 caring for two living children while she maintains the two minimum wage jobs your politicians insist she carry to earn food stamps, which averages out to 350 per month.  She of course must sell these food stamps to meet the rent.  Her kids eat in soup kitchens and survive on free lunches at school which your RNC has been trying to steal from their mouths for decades.  I am in these trenches and never have I met a pro-lifer there.  There are basically few republicans, period.  What’s so incredible about this tragety is that none of you care about children or you would be trying to turn this around by asking politicians why the U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate in the free world, why children in the richest country in the world go to bed hungry or barely clothed or sheltered….And now they want to take away health care?  And pro-lifers say what…?  Exactly so…

        • Michelle M. Williams

           F. Scott Fitzgerald nailed it in 1925 in his novel “The Great Gatsby”. Quote, “The rich get richer and the poor get – children.”

      • Karen A Dudek

         You raise good points Jane and I admire you for sticking with the subject even though it may be impossible to get through to people. I find it galling how people talk down to the poor. Poor in brains they mean. ‘Let’s keep them from reproducing and let them kill their babies’ is the attitude. They want them to be perpetually poor. Rather than raise them up and offer an expectation – one they may never have been given – to achieve and desire something better and a way out. I know how it is to be poor. The poor do not necessarily lack dignity and they certainly don’t have to lack morality. On top of that, these stats are all wrong. It is married over 20’s who abort most often and abortion crosses all socio-economic lines. Margaret Sanger was a racist who wanted to wipe out blacks  and people who are for PP carry on her work today.

        • Michelle M. Williams

          Sticking to the subject? Karen, you keep going on tangents. The fact is that even if birth control pills were 100% effective and had no side effects (and I am still waiting to hear if there is any medication that is 100% effective with no side effects) you would still be against it. Your issue is with sex outside of a heterosexual, monogamous marriage.

        • Mother M

          ————————————————————————————————————By “some People,” are you referring to the actual statistics of the CDC? 

          Poverty of thinking is truly at work here….it begins with someone smitten with propagandized hatred of all women per se….

          I feed these children twice a week.  Do you?  Stop taking away birth control, health care, and aid to dependent children.  They won’t have abortions then.

          Okay, now I’m taking this personally…Poverty is something we want to end by empowering women to take control of their own lives, visa vie equal pay for equal work, an opportunity to live unmolested from repugnant robber barons who gut every social safety net a civilized nation once installed.

          ——————————————————————————————————- By “morality” we’re assuming they shouldn’t take birth control pills?  Or how about fornicate?  Are they immoral to want a job that can actually feed their children.  You know the living kids you work so diligently to starve? 

          Not making this up.  Read the CDC demographics of abortion for a profile of 80-88% of all women seeking an abortion: Poor mothers all.

          Margaret Sanger was a tireless worker for the poor who saw women impoverished because they had no control over their own bodies.  Her own mother died from having too many babies. This right wing talking point to denigrate a national heroine has been disproved a million times.    

      • Hayley

        If every life deserves a chance, and each life is precious and irrepeatable… then are you saying that abstinence is wrong too? every time a couple abstains from sex does that mean they are not giving a life a chance and missing an irrepeatable life? Does that mean if I make eye contact with a man that I should have his baby immediately regardless of the responsibilities because that life deserves a chance and is irrepeatable? Flawed logic at the least…

        • grdawg

          Haha. I think we all know the difference between protecting a life that actually exists and choosing not to help create a life in the first place. Let’s be real.

  • Mother M

    In the U.S. no abortion is paid for at taxpayer expense.  This is the law.  Only 2% of PP’s budget is devoted toward abortion services; (the abortions they perform are to save a mother’s life) the rest of their budget (98%) is dedicated to lab work, cancer screenings, pap tests and mamograms and vaginal health maintenance and STD detection and treatment.  Without these services; millions of women without insurance would contract cancer and in cases I have personally witnessed, died.  There is no profit in saving lives at this institution; they are non-profit and if you have evidence to the contrary either  post your evidence, or stop this lying.. It appears that Family ministry sanctions death, suffering and extreme cruelty for millions of women and the living children 100% dependant on their mothers. 

    Intelligent men and women hear the abstract and the assinine.  But before they post on a  public forum, they research fact from fiction.  I just did.  The fact that people  don’;t makes them either lazy or propagandist. Goebbels told us how easy it was to tell the same lie over and over again to lead the gullible to war. The weak are eliminated.  Only the strong survive.  My how Christianity has changed.

  • Mother M

    Happy momma…perhaps your mind could expand by reading non-partisan, factual evidence which is directly opposite to the propaganda written and earmarked to force human incubation and capture a woman’s vagina. 

    Since 2010, republican candidates have sent 1011 bills to congress to repress the constitutional right to privacy, reduce a woman’s fair wages, and health care.  The Personhood Pledge that all presidential candidates have pledged to enact should they become president:
    1.) Give the government the right to seize a woman’s body to protect a fetus2.) Empower hospitals and doctors, with government support, to force a woman to bear a child and/or have a cesarean against her will3.) Criminalize abortion (including all circumstances: rape, incest, life-threatening pregnancy, severe fetal deformity)4.)  Criminalize stillbirths in certain situations (who decides which?)
    All of these are of course based on the propaganda you spew in order to torture our living children.  Free contraception will enable women to provide for their living children.  LIVING CHILDREN need 1) an education, 2) food to eat, 3)a roof over their heads, 3) and health care…it would also help to have a mom around to nurture them. I am a child advocate.  Those who seek to torture children by spewing the lies of this war against women use spin master propaganda and from my standpoint, that makes them cruel, and more than mean spirited, they are torturing the living children I represent.      

    • happymomma

      Please do tell me how anything I linked to you is either partisan or nonfactual.  I’d also like to know how a women is being forced to be an incubator when she has concented to have sex knowing full well that it can lead to pregnancy.  I’ve noticed you have once again mentioned “living children” as though her preborn baby is somehow not living.  However, from the moment of conception a new LIVING person is created with their own unique DNA and no one (even PP or other abortionists) will argue any diferently.  Also, by saying that we can’t force a women to nurture and take care of her baby from conception is absurd.  Should we not force a women to nurture and protect her born children?  Really, is there any difference between a baby 5 minutes before their born or after?  Do you somehow become something different when you walk indoors or outdoors?
      As far as the Personhood Amendments you’re quite mistaken on how they would work.  They would criminalize abortion in cases of rape or incest because the baby should not be given the death penalty for the crime of his or her father.  (If your father were convicted of a severe crime shoud you take the penalty?)  However, in cases where the life of the mother is in danger there is no way that the baby’s life would be placed above that of the mother’s.  Natural miscarriage would also not be criminalized nor would IVF.  Here’s a link to the Colorado Personhood amendment that we’re currently trying to get on the ballot for this year:

      By the way, if this is a war on women then why are the majority of pro-life activists women including myself? 

      • Mother M


        I can’t tell you who you are but I can tell you what I’ve learned.  Intelligent people hear the same propaganda you fervently tout and say to themselves: wow, that sounds incredulous.  Fact or faction, I better check this out. But that’s not necessary for someone like you. So the rest of us are left to wonder why any women would want to harm other women and her children.   

        As a child advocate,  I see you and the Pro-life movement as little worker bees busy destroying the lives of LIVING children by torturing their mothers whom you hate with a vengence that surpasses common sense or reason.  Your propaganda machines have spent bucko bucks closing every facility which offers women birth control and the only gyn care available, including cancer screenings and in the greatest age of barbarism where the US holds a record number of infant mortality deaths, the very which would produce a healthy live birth or prevent an unwanted child with the pill…See, if you really wanted to stop abortion, you could end in record time by advocating for education and easy access to the pill.  But that’s not what you want at all.  You want to force breed a generation of uneducated children, under fed, under sheltered, tortured and sickened by extreme poverty and want.  To you, every child is someone else’s child.  They are not yours and so you feel no compulsion to care for them….which is where we part company.    

        • happymomma

          Have you actually read anything I’ve said or linked to you?  You say its propaganda and yet I’ve linked scientific facts from multiple secular sources as well as Planned Parenthood’s latest financial report!  I’ve shown you that an unborn person is 100% alive from conception.  You say I’m the one wanting to toture women and children but I am the one trying to save them from the death you would gladly have them be given!  PP does very little prenantal care.  Its easy to see why since they murder 90% of their pregnant patient’s children!  The only credit they do have is that they do some cancer screenings (not mammograms) and std testing.  They do hand out birth control as well but as we all know BC can and does fail.  Rather than make women feel the only option they have is to then kill their child is horrible.  Instead we should keep doing what Crisis Pregnancy Centers have already been doing–helping these women out and giving them loving options and assistance. 
          Education is a great idea.. in theory.  However, Planned Parenthood is the one that is “educating” our children!  They are making them comfortable to start having sex earlier and when they either use BC wrong or it fails are advocating for them to come to their centers without their parents knowledge to then kill their children.  Have you seen what their idea of education is?  I have, and its quite disturbing.
          See, I think you have some things mixed up pretty badly.  If you were to break both your legs and be temporarily unable to care for yourself would you prefer for someone to tear you to pieces since you now had a rough few months ahead of you?  Or, say, you have to claim bankruptcy and are now poor… would you like someone to kill you so that you won’t be poor?  If you became homeless.. should that be a death sentence?  If you were paralyzed should your caregiver have the choice to end your life since you are now completely dependant on thier care and are, in a sense, in a parasitic relationship with them?  Abortion is just a way to put a band-aid on the problems of poverty, neglect, etc.  Rather than killing those people who might or do have problems isn’t it much more loving to allow those people to live and then try to find a solution to their problems and assist in whatever ways we can?

  • pofalici

    PP does not give free anything. But, they are finangling for the government to get all of us to fund their business instead of charging their customers, “We the People” will pay the piper & they will be giving birth control that you and I have been forced to pay. As wello, it is not very effective so it will increase their abortion business when it fails.

    • 12angry_men

      “PP does not give free anything.” That statement is very false, as many clinics do in fact give out free birth control (condoms, plan B, Ella, pills, etc) to people without health insurance. Just call a few clinics and you can find out for yourself.

    • hayley

      would you rather pay for birth control or the higher cost of increased welfare for single poor mothers?

      • grdawg

        Why does it have to be about money? Shouldn’t it be about life?

  • Mother M

    Karen Dudek; an opinion writer or a propagandist?  According to the CDC’s stats, there would be little to no abortions should poor women have access to birth control. The CDC cites that 88% of women who seek an abortion are between 17-25, single, working two minimum wage jobs to support their 2 LIVING children.  A woman does not become pregnant until 2 weeks after intercource, so as the statistic cites when she undergoes an abortion (her first and last) the zygote is in the 3rd week of development or five weeks after intercourse.  There is no brain tissue or heart muscle or lungs. On average, she will pull 350. a month in food stamps and aid for her LIVING children.  This income doesn’t cover a third of her expenses, even working two minimum wage jobs, she will be forced to sell her food stamps to supplement her income; and her children will have to depend on free school lunches and soup kitchens for their daily sustenance.  The wealthy white men  you support  are dilligently working to end minimum wage, end medicaid  (90% of medicaid recipents are children), end free lunches, and eliminate the public school system in order to privatize the education of only those who can afford it.  By any sense of the word, these actions against women and children are immoral, inhumane, sadistic and barbaric.  When you punish a mom you  torture her children.  And this is pro-life? 

  • happymomma

    Saying things multiple times does not
    make it true! Since you haven’t linked your source of information I
    googled it and can only assume that it is this:
    From the CDC’s stats I found that of
    women having abortions and reporting- 81% were unmarried, 50% were
    age 25 or under, 31.9% had 2 or more live prior births, and 40.4% had
    no known living children. It also said:

    “Approximately one in five U.S. pregnancies have ended in
    abortion, according to the most recent estimates from NCHS (31).
    Inconsistent method use of oral contraceptive methods (75.9%) and
    condoms (49.3%) were the most common reasons that women became
    pregnant and obtained abortions.”

    So, it appears that it is NOT lack of
    access to BC that abortions are occurring but rather either failed or
    improper use of available BC! There is also no mention of how many
    jobs, or whether or not the average women is on government
    assistance. If you can link where you’re getting this information
    that would be appreciated. Otherwise, I am left to assume that you
    are either misinformed or simply guessing.
    Here is a reminder of what a Zygote is:
    Also, it most certainly DOES NOT take 2
    weeks from intercourse for a women to get pregnant. Under the best
    conditions sperm can only live for up to 5 days inside a woman’s
    fallopian tubes. You are confusing it with the fact that it takes
    approximately 2 weeks from the beginning of your menstrual cycle for
    you to ovulate (produce an egg) and potentially become pregnant.
    Once you ovulate there is about a 24 hour window that sperm (either
    already inside you or on its way) can fertilize that egg. Many women
    use a natural form of BC called FAM or NFP to track their cycles,
    monitor cervical mucus and position, and chart basal body
    temperatures. It is a highly effective and safe form of BC that
    doesn’t interfere with your body’s natural rhythm. To learn more
    about how this all works check these out:

    As far as prenatal development, maybe
    you missed this:

    Take note of this:
    “By the end of the third week of pregnancy, approximately 21 days
    after fertilization and 8 days after first taking shape, the heart
    starts beating.”

    And this:

    “A month after fertilization, brain
    31 and 33), the brain’s size increases by 25 percent.”

    And this:

    “By the sixth week, the brain emits
    measurable brain impulses.”

    • Hayley

      Most abortions occur before 21 days after fertilization. Plan B takes places less than 72 hours after unprotected sex. It takes at least 5 days for impregnation to happen.

      • grdawg

        Ok, wow, you need to seriously check your facts. Most women don’t even know they’re pregnant until 4-6 weeks. 21 days is 3 weeks. So the point is that a baby’s heart starts to beat before a mother even knows she’s pregnant. That’s pretty incredible. And while it can take 5 days to get pregnant after sex, it certainly doesn’t always take that long. Plan B has the ability to kill a baby after he or she has already implanted. It doesn’t always do that, but it can.

  • Mother M

    Happymomma, odd that you criticize for not furnishing links while tapping into the very cite I furnished.    What’s particularly alarming in your post is that you actually took the time to tap into the statistics only to twist the data to fit your propagandized tool of choice.  What you represent to those of us who actually represent families and the marginalized poor, (a demographic which fits the CDC profile), is an ongoing attack against women and children because they are poor and have no one to speak for them…they don’t talk back….is not this the 80% of women who seek an abortion?  Are finances the prime reason they seek an abortion?  If they could have free access to the pill, or some other form of contraception, could we not end abortion altogether?  Wouldn’t this be a good thing?  The fact that you disagree with statements like these demonstrates  an underlying agenda which is fueled by politics and the plutocracy you represent which, as everyone knows, could care less about children.

     Living children, keeping them fed, housed, clothed, healthy, and nurtured by parents they love is not on your agenda…torturing kids happens when you torture their mothers.  So I’m wondering what that agenda plan really has in mind for the American family, for the women who must survive to nurture the family…when they can find jobs that pay a sustainable salary that is . One last point, there is something inherently cruel about using the happymomma moniker when your real agenda will serve no other purpose than to torture kids.   

    • happymomma

      Ah, good to know that was where you were supposedly getting your stats from.  So, what I’m wondering is where you’re getting this “CDC profile” from.  I see absolutely no mention of income or government assistance in the report.  I did already show you from your own source as well that lack of access to BC is NOT what is pushing women to have abortions.  In fact, “54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Among those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use (AGI). ”
      Keeping “living children, keeping them fed, housed, clothed, healthy, and nurtured by parents” is most certainly on my agenda.  However, I don’t descriminate.  I want ALL children to have these things and not just those that are rich, privilaged, or wanted!  If you must know, my husband and I both work relatively low paying jobs, have a 6 month old baby and he has a teenager.  We live paycheck to paycheck and are by no means rich.  I’m a happymomma because I have been blessed with the basics of what I need and a wonderful family.  The last thing in my mind or heart is to torture anyone especially children!  I want all children to know love and be protected from evil that would rather see them tortured and destroyed in the safest place they should ever know–their mother’s womb.  This is why I’m pro-life. 

  • Mother M

    Wow..good way to eliminate debate, Karen.  Delete it.  Happymomma has spun CDC’s data for what purpose now…?   The point of your post is that women who fornicate and are unmarried are evil, therefore they or their living children don’t deserve pity… They deserve to be punished, their children deserve to be uneducated, impoverished, hungry, without shelter and no health care?  Pro-life is a well funded lobby dedicated to torturing living children.  Love children, then stop infant mortality. Make life a priority by stopping the attack on women’s health care; furnish the pill; end abortion.   

    • happymomma

      Yes, we are “torturing living children” by trying to prevent 3000+ a day of them (in the US alone) from being brutally murdered! 
      The pill is not the answer.  Real education would be a good place to start.  I’m not talking PP’s supposed sex education.  Instead, as you’ve proven in your posts, there is a huge lack of knowledge among women on how their bodies work.  Perhaps if we focused some effort on trying to teach young women to understand and appreciate their bodies they would be better able to prevent pregnancy.  Could it be that with the availability of modern BC we have become so dependent on it that we forget how it is that we even conceive a child? 
      You obvoiusly can’t except seeing the truth.  I’ve tried to communicate rationally and logically with you.  Rather than debate on that level, you’ve chosen to throw out blind (or made up) statistics along with emotionally charged attacks on my character which you know very little about.  For some unkown reason you can’t except the fact that being pro-life is actually the most loving position you can have.  I understand that you passionately care about born children.  But, please, care for the unborn innocent children as well who want a chance at life just as much as any other child.  Extend the same love you have for innocent older children for preborn children as well.  If you can take the blinders off your eyes and see life for what it is you could be a wonderful voice for the unborn.  Please join us in saving lives no matter how old that life is.
      P.S.  I have no idea what post may have been deleted.   But, to the best of my knowledge, if anything was deleted it was because it was flagged and found to be innapropriate.

  • Anadrs23

    The thing that makes  me think that prolifers don’t know how to NOT shoot themselves in the foot, is that they aren’t always clear, you need  to make it obvious that you are against FAULTY  birth control issued by PP (or anyone for that matter) without making it seem as though you are against birth control at large… Fighting against contraception, is going to DESTROY us

  • Anadrs23
  • momjones

    Planned Parenthood saves lives, millions of them, every day.  Guess we know it’s only women’s lives, though, 88% of those being the sole support of living children, which mean nothing to you or to the voting records of the GOP.  Federal law prohibits tax revenue to be spent on abortions.  Which means that  2% of PP’s annual budget must be dedicated to abortions to save a woman’s life; 98% of that budget provides health care for those living on the margins without insurance.  Look-it-up….  But I guess the pro-death squads can rightly claim another bombing.  New Orleans:  Bomb and kill them poor women out of existence…that’s how you stop family planning, women’s health care, and making families healthy.  Since none of you have an alternate plan, guess it’s safe to say it’s the Repub-taliban way to spread divisive propaganda which is dedicated toward destroying women and families.  All over the world, fascist right wing death squads are carrying your torch, murdering and maiming and demonizing woman kind.  

    Women’s rights are human rights.  

    • grdawg

      And baby’s rights are human rights, too.

  • momjones

    There are monsters among us…while I’m protecting living children with no home and no one to love them, you mind numbing sociopaths work to make more of them.  Oldmanbob, when you did you grow a vagina?  Nomorepillwhatever, you ever figure out how to pop a pill?  These posts are so invented.  You work toward making hell on earth by impoverishing more children whom none of you want to support, call their mothers sluts for taking the pill to make a better life for her living children before bringing another child into it….  It is a sick, sick, sick bed you make…love children by advocating for the living who are hungry, homeless, begging to be nurtured…poverty is pain and torture.  Women need health care.  Stop attacking the only safety nets women have…which is Planned Parenthood.