Planned Parenthood

You may recall former Susan G. Komen executive Karen Handel from from Komen's grossly mishandled defunding and refunding of Planned Parenthood earlier this year. Well, Handel may have lost her job at Komen, but she's gained a book deal. The title of her upcoming tome? Planned Bullyhood.

Douche du tous les jours Tucker Max is in the news again today, and this time it's for an attempted publicity stunt involving a $500,000 donation to Planned Parenthood.

By now, chances are you've seen the news that the Susan G. Komen Foundation defunded its support of Planned Parenthood, which it had established in 2005. Pressure for the foundation to stop the support began almost immediately, and the national Susan G. Komen board resisted this pressure until yesterday. I spoke with Gina Popovic, Executive Vice President of the Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, who stressed that Komen is not the bad actor in all of this, the anti-choice activists are.

Ray Wieczorek says of Planned Parenthood, "If they want to have a party, have a party, but don't ask me to pay for it." What a douchebag.

I've written a few times on this blog about unfair criticism and downright racist language aimed at President Obama, in part because it's so prevalent and persistent, and in part because I believe it deflects attention from policy critiques. For a president as centrist as Barack Obama, valid criticism is necessary, especially when middle-of-the-road stances often mean compromise on the Hill. So in the interest of modeling good behavior, I have a critique of the President's latest capitulation regarding Social Security, as the debate about debt ceilings continues in Washington.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels defunded Planned Parenthood of Indiana on Tuesday. As if this fail couldn’t get any worse, speculation surrounds Daniels’ intent as to why he signed the bill. And why did he?

As you've probably heard by now, the House voted last week to cut federal funding for Title X, which would in turn U.S. bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding. If you're reading Bitch, you probably agree with us that this is a bunch of completely outrageous bullshit. If you haven't already signed the online petition to let the House and Senate know that you stand with Planned Parenthood, do so right now. OK, did you do it? Great! Now let's do more!

Planned Parenthood is also organizing rallies at health centers around the country. A couple of us went to one here in Portland yesterday and it was awesome. Tons of energized people, and some really great rally signs and chants. Check the PP website to find out where they're happening in your area! And in the meantime, let's come up with some signs to make and take with us to these rallies, shall we?

Tool-in-pimp's-clothing James O'Keefe's laughable costume and douchebag seduction methods have mostly discredited his conservative hidden-camera hijinks. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for Lila Rose, a 22-year-old whose organization, Live Action: a "new media movement for life," is using hidden cameras to discredit Planned Parenthood and garnering mainstream and political attention.

Laura Wershler is Executive Director of Sexual Health Access Alberta. Recently she wrote a critical response for the re:Cycling blog to a study published in the British Medical Journal which reported that 'Women in the UK who have ever used oral contraceptives are less likely to die from any cause, including all cancers and heart disease, compared with never users.' She has previously served on the board for the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (now the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health) and is a self-described opponent of menstrual suppression through hormonal birth control and advocate of body literacy. In the second part of this interview she discusses the hows and whys of coming off the Pill.

Laura Wershler is Executive Director of Sexual Health Access Alberta. Recently she wrote a critical response for the re:Cycling blog to a study published in the British Medical Journal which reported that 'Women in the UK who have ever used oral contraceptives are less likely to die from any cause, including all cancers and heart disease, compared with never users.' She has previously served on the board for the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (now the Canadian Federation for Sexual Health) and is a self-described opponent of menstrual suppression through hormonal birth control and advocate of body literacy. In this two-part interview, she discusses the gaps she sees in Planned Parenthood services and the rising interest in non-hormonal methods.