A whole bunch of women don't have the money either to have more kids or to have an abortion. Hell, a lot of 'em don't even have money for birth control (or bus fare to get to the Planned Parenthood in the next town that has free condoms, but which closes at three o'clock during the week).
Texas Equal Access is a fund that provides small grants--from fifty to a hundred bucks--directly to clinics that perform abortions, with the agreement that that money will go toward reducing the cost of a woman's abortion. It's only given after the woman in question has had a pregnancy terminated, so it's not like the clinics are rolling in money. Said women also have to satisfy certain conditions to demonstrate financial need.
(Side note: if you do a real-terms comparison of what it cost to get an abortion in 1980, when the only clinic in my county opened, and the cost in 1999, when it closed, then you'd see exactly zero profit. This is the norm for abortion providers in this country, the majority of whom are small, independent practitioners, who do reproductive health work as a sideline.)
There may be no worse feeling in the world than sitting at work, waiting for a call from your partner, hoping that he's been able to get the money you need out of the bank or from friends or relatives, because neither of you have a credit card. The woman whose partner isn't able to find the cash will be helped by your donation, so she won't have to shout "FUCK" across her workplace when it looks like she'll be pregnant for another two weeks, and go to a different clinic, and have a different, more involved procedure, to get rid of a pregnancy she'd tried to prevent and never wanted in the first place.
It's ridiculous that women have to go through this to obtain a safe, legal medical procedure.
Help a woman. Being pregnant when you don't want to be is like being an animal in a trap; chewing your own leg off is an understandable and reasonable reaction.
4 comments:
But boy, it sure is easy for men to get treatment for ED isnt it! We so obviously still live in a patriarchal society, no matter how far we have come!
i just gave. thanks so much, Jo. Sometimes it's overwhelming trying to figure out where to put your money when you want to do something charitable. I'm grateful that we have you as a trusted voice for something important like this. xo
Here is a funny work story for you. Last night i went to the waiting room to call in the next pt, as she walked to me (with her cc= neck pain) an elderly man tottered over, reaching for me with one hand, saying "it's about damn time!" Neck Pain graciously sat back down. We tottered in to triage, and when I asked "what brings you here tonight?" he turned and grabbed my arms with both hands and shook me, yelling, red-faced "I HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DAMMIT!!!" My thought - fuckin A you sure do! he was eventually a LWBS.
Sometimes I'm so glad my sex life is low risk for pregnancy (homosexuality works well for that) - but if I were ever in such a position I know that my friends would move heaven and earth to help me. I can't imagine how people can find the strength to face a situation like that without support.
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