Much of this inhuman behavior/posturing/bloviating revolves around one of God's finest creations. That's right, I'm talking about the vagina. Now, I'm a big fan and it's always been my experience that the woman - i.e. the owner of said vagina - controls approach, entry and all activities. And then along comes the right.
For the uninformed or, in the case of the Republican Party, for those incapable of believing a truth they don't like (climate change, anyone?), Planned Parenthood has become a campaign issue. Here's some facts about the organization that cracker/crackpot legislatures have created as the ultimate boogeyman:
- Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.
- It can trace its history to Margaret Sanger, who opened the American Birth Control League in Brooklyn in 1921. In 1942 it became part of the PPFA.
- Planned Parenthood today has in excess of 820 clinic locations in the country, with a budget of a billion dollars.
- Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of reproductive health services in the country. Contraception accounts for 35% of their total services, while abortion accounts for only 3% (which by law cannot be funded by tax dollars). By their own reporting, approximately 612,000 unintended pregnancies and 291,000 abortions were prevented.
- In 2009, Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions, deriving $164,154,000 (15% of its revenue).
- According to the World Health Organization, 42 million women each year, faced with unwanted pregnancies, have abortions. Twenty million of these are unsafe, mostly performed in countries where abortion is illegal, and result in 68,000 deaths annually.
