The Newest Plot by Extremist Wackos Masquerading as Concerned Citizens

I know that title line is a little dramatic, but let's face facts. Extremist nuts on both the left and the right are intent on utterly destroying this nation. This week, we hear from the right.

I read a letter to the editor of the Everett Herald on Monday suggesting that to help balance the state's budget by completely defunding Planned Parenthood. For those of you who don't know, Planned Parenthood is a clinic of sorts that provides all sorts of family planning and sex-ed services, including but not limited to: free STD screenings, contraceptive distribution, and even abortions.

My personal feelings on abortion aside, it is by no means the only service provided by Parenthood. Far more effort and attention are lavished on prevention, including educating people about the risks of sexual activity and all potential repercussions-- including pregnancy. People like the guy who wrote this letter would have us believe that Planned Parenthood is nothing but a baby butcher shop.

What happens when struggling, unwealthy young women and men (as Planned Parenthood serves both) need the kind of advice/counseling/education that they can only get from a place like Parenthood, and they find they can't get it because the platform has been yanked from directly beneath the organization? Contrary to popular fringe-wacko belief, if they can't find the services they need, they won't abstain from the dirty deed. They'll do it without protection and education if necessary. What happens then? Best case scenario, no negative consequences. Or there could be an unplanned pregnancy, which is likely to end in abortion or (billions of times worse!) postnatal abandonment. Or there could be a sexually transmitted disease. Without the kind of services and products that Parenthood provides, that burden may end up falling even harder on (you guessed it) the taxpayer when the party/parties concerned need cheap healthcare or possibly hospital attention due to childbirth.

Believing that abstinence prevails is a foolhardy idea that endangers millions of lives. Human beings seem to have a fair amount of control over their instincts and urges; but in most cases, it's still not enough. Which is why any doctrine (be it religious, political, or purely personal) that preaches abstinence and also condemns the use of contraceptives is a doctrine of death. Next time, the violently hateful people who sit in many positions of authority should try teaching instead of firing off. They might learn something themselves in the process.

Defunding Planned Parenthood is not the act of concerned citizens interested in maintaining the moral purity and low tax prices they've come to cherish. It sends the message that if you want to have sex before marriage, you deserve any ill fortune that befalls you. That's just rhetoric.