Do we need Planned Parenthood?

I remember back from when I was a teenager and using the services of Planned Parenthood.  I felt so blessed back then to have had the opportunity to somewhere to turn to when I needed it the most.  I don’t believe that there is much sex education in anyone’s home.  Everything we learned was from other kids our own age.  I don’t even recall any sex education in school being taught to us.  I went to Planned Parenthood and that’s where I received all the information I needed to know.

I just read this article in the Austin American Statesman and dates back to March 7, 2013.  That's what brought all these old memories back to me.

First of all I want to thank the hundreds of people that rallied outside of the Texas Capitol on Thursday in support of Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood is seen by many Texas legislators as Public Enemy No. 1, only because they say it promotes abortions and Texas is a state that is against this practice.

In 2011, the Legislature voted to bar any financial assistance to any groups that had anything to do with abortions.  This has led to Planned Parenthood being removed from the Texas Women’s Health Program, which provided care to more than 130,000 low-income women. 

In my opinion as someone who has used these services and as a mother of teenage children, I truly believe that we need to keep Planned Parenthood.  It does not promote teen sex nor does it promote abortions.  They provide great services to our women and let’s not forget our men.

We need family planning services, and Planned Parenthood has been providing women with these services for many years.  They also provide other services such as, cancer screenings and other care services that have nothing to do with abortions.

Planned Parenthood has helped so many low income women during pregnancy and thanks to that help many of them have been able to succeed in school and have even earned college degrees because they had a support system that worked for them not against them.

Texas taxpayers pay more than $1 billion annually for Medicaid, a figure that will continue to rise if we do away with Planned Parenthood services. 

Republicans are the ones in control statewide.  They are the main ones complaining about our economy being so bent out of shape, yet they take no responsibility for their actions.

Go figure….

So the answer would be a definite yes, we do need Planned Parenthood. 

Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster files the “Shopping Bag Freedom Act”

This is my fourth government blog assignment.  We must critique a Texas blog.  This one caught my attention because it’s in regards to our most recent ban against plastic bags.  Come on, really?  Is this some kind of a joke.   This article is going to make my assignment easy and short, because it is short and weak with little information.

This article was created by Claire Cordona with the Dallas Morning News on March 6, 2013.

It begins by saying, “Austin- If you’ve forgotten your reusable grocery bag or frustrated with the new law, one legislator is on your side.”   Really, did she have to use the word frustrated?

The article says that just a few days after the bag ban went into effect on March 1, Rep. Drew Springer R-Muenster, filed the “Shopping Bag Freedom Act” that would overturn the ordinance, which was passed by the Austin City Council in March 2012.

“This act is just the latest example of government elites trying to step between the business and consumer in an attempt to push forward a misguided nanny-state agenda,” Springer said.

Then it goes to saying that people will forget to wash their reusable bags, which “puts uninformed populations at risk of serious illness and even death.  Even if bag hygiene was realistic, why mandate people to waste more water on laundry in a time of severe drought in the region and state?”

Springer said the bag ban puts cities on the path to mandate other things, like how much salt someone can put in their food.  If Springer did say this, why did Claire not use quotation marks? Do people really believe that someday the city will mandate how much salt we put in our food? I don’t think so.

The article is so small I just about put everything it said in my blog, except for a few things that I chose to leave out.  This article was pretty dull.  Claire did not put any kind of data to back up any of her research in regards to the ban on plastic bags.  Okay, it is bad for the environment, what else?  She also says that these reusable bags are dangerous if not washed before using them again. So they need to explain to us in what way these bags are dangerous.

I am for the plastic bag ban.  I was always getting mad about the bags tearing by the time I made it home anyway.  If this is going to help the environment, I am all for it.  The only concern I have is getting better educated on how we can avoid getting ill if we do not wash our reusable bags properly.