Judy Blume Plus Planned Parenthood = Widespread Anti-Choice Hysteria
Judy Blume wrote a Mother’s Day letter for Planned Parenthood soliciting donations for the organization. For Judy Blume and Planned Parenthood to team up seems only natural to me, with Judy Blume being a household name for girls and women spanning several decades and in some cases, was the only introduction to puberty for girls around the world. As a true mentor for young girls, Judy Blume has made the excellent decision to share her thoughts about Mother’s Day and the importance of mothers through an organization that truly cares about the well being, the health, and the happiness of every person who seeks their unrelenting support and guidance without any sort of judgment.
But anti-choicers were not only outraged about Judy Blume’s decision to write this letter soliciting donations for Planned Parenthood, they decided to skew the entire situation to best fit their agenda. Really, are you surprised?
Life News distorted the facts of what Blume wrote, which Jezebel points out. Life News reported:
Blume notes how more woman are seeking abortions form Planned Parenthood because of the difficult economy and she urges readers of the email to use that as a reason to support the abortion business.
The accurate wordage from Blume herself goes a little something like this:
If you know a mother who is struggling to raise strong, independent, and confident children in the face of unbelievable odds… Say thanks. Say thanks this Mother’s Day with a gift that honors her courage by making a donation to Planned Parenthood in her name. I guarantee you that she’ll be pleased. I know I would be.
It’s not easy to be a mother these days. And right now – with more and more women seeking care from Planned Parenthood health centers – we need to do all we can to support them. By honoring a mother in your life, you’ll be making a gift to millions of mothers and families who seek care from Planned Parenthood. That’s a gift any mother will appreciate.
Other anti-choice blogs are mimicking the same falsities and also adding that Blume is a “controversial” children’s author (controversial? Because puberty and learning to grow into your maturing body as you morph from child to tween to teen is a bad thing and something we should shield the kids from?) who supports what they are calling the United States’ largest abortion provider.
Obviously, (and as per usual) these anti-choice “advocates” need some clarification. Planned Parenthood is not an abortion provider, they are a reproductive health clinic. In fact, a great deal of Planned Parenthood locations do not even perform abortions; I should know, I live in one of those locations. In fact, where I live, if you want a safe and legal abortion, you have to drive up to 3 hours away to a town not so pressured by anti-choice smears and bullying. The services provided at a Planned Parenthood reproductive health clinic include screenings for breast, cervical, and testicular cancers, birth control services, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing, pregnancy counseling where options are discussed which include carrying the fetus to full term and giving birth and adoption (Imagine that! Options!), testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections, comprehensive sex education, menopause treatments, vasectomies, and tubal ligation.
Because of the anti-choice hysteria that ensued as soon as they saw Judy Blume’s face sitting on an email from Planned Parenthood, Planned Parenthood has issued a call to action to support and stand up for Judy Blume. No one should face the email harassment that Blume has since this email hit inboxes by the anti-choice brigade, so show your support for Judy Blume and her decision to support Planned Parenthood.
I’m also willing to bet that Judy Blume does not necessarily need the book sales she may lose from anti-choicers now, but for good measure, I’m sure every free-thinking feminist out there will be buying Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret for their children, friends, themselves, whichever.
Related Posts:
11 Comments Leave a Comment
Leave a Reply
Sex-Positivity
I'm passionate about sex-positivity and believe every sexual being should have the freedom to explore their sexuality safely and without condemnation. I even lost my ad network after my refusal to censor myself after reviewing feminist porn.So if you're in the market for sex toys, porn, books, etc. take a look at the retailers below, all of which are feminist-friendly.
Out Campaign
The OUT Campaign allows individuals to let others know they are not alone. It can also be a nice way of opening a conversation and help to demolish the negative stereotypes of atheists. Let the world know that we are not about to go away and that we are not going to allow those that would condemn us to push us into the shadows.
Just to add my own experiences: I have personally used planned parenthood health services in the past, and have never had an abortion at any of their clinics.
I absolutely love Judy Blume. Seriously to hell with the anti-choicers . Their fixation on abortion blinds them to the wonderful health services the Planned Parenthood provides to many poor women who don't have insurance. Their myopic position is not in the least surprising since they are all about controlling women under the guise of protecting us.
I have used parenthood health services in the past.thanks .
I like Judy Blum.I have used parenthood health.
The problem is that the “pro-lifers” object not only to abortion but to women having any control whatsoever over their reproductive organs. That's why they detest any sort of clinic like Planned Parenthood.
I love Judy Blum.I have never had an abortion at any of their clinics .thanks for information.
I love Judy Blum.I have never had an abortion at any of their clinics .thanks for information.
I really like Judy Blum.Seriously to hell with the anti-choices.It provides to many poor woman who don't have insurance.i have already used parenthood.
They are reading between the lines too much. And as for as I know, reproductive health clinics are not allowed to conduct abortion. Because that's not very “healthy” for your reproductive health, right?
Menopause or menopauza symptoms can be a real problem for middle aged women. The body suffers a lot of modifications and because of other problems like urinarry stress incontinence this can prove to be a very hard period for any kind of woman. Luckily there are products like the Zoft gum or similar which help reduce these simptoms but overall it's a tough stage in any woman's life.
I’m not american… or a woman, But I’ll tell you what I am…
I am amused:
I’m pretty much amused after reading the comments posted on american christian sites that nobody went off looking for who ‘her’ is in the quotation… after a little digging you find the actual piece….
I’m also amused that people had to read the entire piece to decide which bit to ‘lift’ out of it that would have the most impact on their audience! So I’m amused that the person doing the lifting was certainly knowledgeable of the original article…but clearly God told them to do it!
I’m also amused that if one labels an organisation as being evil, or immoral, or wrong…for whatever reason and using whatever yardstick you like…that without consideration you can then get anyone to swallow that crap without asking any questions about what the organisation actually does. Most american who label planned parenthood as just an abortion clinic have absolutely no idea where its money is spent….
It like the idiots who insist evolution shouldn’t be taught in schools… because they disagree with it. (not sure how you can disagree with a process of nature)…who are the same people who are the least educated about what evolution actaully is… disagreeing with something, when you don’t know anything about it… how amusing!
I’m also gobsmacked.
I’m gobsmacked that a nation that has some of the best educational establishments, education infrastructures and third level universities in the world can be the very same nation bereft of reason and where the inhabitants have universally almost no ability to reason ‘what would happen if’…. as in ‘what would happen if an organisation like planned parenthood shut its doors tomorrow… ‘ would the local pastor pick up the slack by doing HIV tests in his spare time?
I’m also optimistic…
I’m optimistic because as I said I’m not american… and all civilizations come to an end… like stars the bigger and brighter they are the shorter their days… and the USA has shone so very bright these past 100 years. But that’s okay…the rest of the world isn’t going anywhere…we are all still here… we’re watching … with amusement, we’re gobsmacked…and we’re pretty optimistic the religious right will win…the US will stop using up all the resources, and we’ll benefit from the outfall…
But we won’t of course follow suit and run about like a bunch of paranoid right wing religious nuts demanding that health centers we know nothing about are closed… that kids should either be uneducated, or educated in something like sexual abstinence (which is contrary to what mother nature has in mind) or worse still deliberately and willfully remaining ignorant becasue the wealty society can afford to carry the weight…