I recently received an email from a woman friend asking me to support Planned Parenthood at http://raiseyourhand.org which I was more than happy to do.
And I was reminded of the women (and men) in my life who have sought help through Planned Parenthood over the years, both known and unknown.
I recalled being told by a very close girlfriend, how she had gone to Planned Parenthood because she found herself in a very precarious position: she had just had her second child, she and her husband were really having trouble with their marriage, their resources were very thin due to her husband loosing his job and she just could not see that having a third child was in anyone's best interest. She cried as she told be about the interview she had with the counselor at Planned Parenthood and about the anguish she endured for days while she made her decision. My girlfriend also told be about the respectful care that she was given by the counselor that, in my girlfriend's words, 'no one, not even my family' could have provided.
She and her husband returned a while later to terminate the pregnancy.
(Note: my girlfriend was killed in an automobile accident a few years after telling me this heartbreaking story.)
I was also reminded of another friend who happened to be a single father. Upon finding that his teen daughter had become sexually active, his mother suggested that they visit Planned Parenthood and help her get the information that she needed to make her way into responsible adulthood.
Grandmother, father and daughter made the visit together.
My friend's daughter later finished college, married and has presented her father with a beautiful grandchild - all because of what she learned that day at Planned Parenthood and the love of a family who had the wherewithal to seek help when help was needed.
Two very different stories; two very different endings with the common thread of Planned Parenthood.
And I am proud to give this fine organization my help. If you are not one of the 1 in 5 American women who has been to Planned Parenthood but want to support them, please stand with me here.
RaiseYourHand