From paen to pain

"Planned Parenthood is going to become more political so that healthcare can become less politicized."

This from Cecile Richards, PP's new leader.

1. How the hell could they possibly become more political? Register as a political party instead of as a 501(c)3? Planned Parenthood becoming more political is like a Paris fashion model becoming thinner, or Michael Jackson getting weirder. It boggles the mind to think where there could possibly be room for becoming more of what's your defining characteristic in the first place.

2. How is doing more to promote your own political agenda under the guise of "health care" making health care "become less politicized"?

You gotta read the whole article. In a way, it's a hoot, because it's full of fatuous statements like that one. On the other hand, it's kinda scary to think that they're going to devote even more of their vast, tax-funded resources to silencing anybody who isn't in lockstep with their agenda.

Oh, and here's Richards on the underage kids PP recruits as volunteers to round up customers among their friends and agemates:

"Any question you would ever want to ask, they can answer it without blushing, without apologies or stammering; they have taken on their school boards, their principals and sometimes their own parents. (emphasis mine) "

And this from an organization that claims that they're not trying to drive a wedge between kids and their parents. Yeah. And rock stars never try to score with hot babes.

The tone of the article, interestingly enough, changes by the third page. It drops the giddy gushing over Richards in particular and PP in general (and, of course, hand-wringing about how "hostile" mean old Middle-America is to "choice") and starts getting straightforward and -- shockingly enough -- honest:

The eight women I interviewed in South Dakota described abortion experiences that were far from something that would engage them politically on its behalf. Among the stories was a student who was shocked when her state-mandated counseling twenty-four hours before the procedure was a recording played over the phone (not lots of opportunities to ask questions there).

Yeah, "a woman and her doctor."

Another moment of shocking honesty:

Given their sometimes alienating language (such as "tissue" to refer to the fetus)....

Not that they belittle the woman's experience in any way or anything.

And in closing:

Women [in South Dakota] are more likely than men to agree with the ban, and younger people--the ones Richards has been so impressed by in her travels--are the most likely to support it.

This was, in fact, the final sentence. It's as if Baumgardner contemplated this and totally lost her will to continue writing.

I certainly hope that this one fact gets her thinking; That it's the women of South Dakota, not the men, driving hardest for an abortion ban.

HT: Birth Story