Continuing in the vein of feminism that was briefly touched up on in my last blog (from today no less), I came across this thread on Feministing (which I found due to the lovely Shelby).
The basic gist of what’s going here is this:
“Planned Parenthood of Central Washington was scheduled to hold an event at a local Wal-Mart on National HIV Testing Daywhere their Teen Council were simply going to stand outside of the store and hand out information about HIV prevention and testing. But the American Life League got a tip on the event, and urged their supporters to call and complain to the store, after which Wal-Mart succumbed and canceled the event.”
Â
Now, I am all for a woman’s right to choose, and I firmly believe that educating our children is the only real way to prevent the spread of STDs and pregnancy. I mean, let’s face it, kids are going to have sex and do stupid, irresponsible things. It’s kind of a given at this point, and no matter how great your parents are/were (mine are pretty rad, and they should be really thankful I’m so wonderful and awesome and didn’t do anything bad or even close to really rebellious as a teen), kids are going to make bad choices and even mistakes. It’s important that kids are told early on the consequences of their actions as well as preventative measures to make sure that should they make a poor choice, they’re at least somewhat protected.Â
That being said, is anyone REALLY surprised that Wal-Mart ended up cancelling the event? Who at Planned Parenthood decided Wal-Mart was THE location for this event anyway?! Talk about poor general planning. I mean, really people? Aside from the fact that they are and have never been super, duper liberal, they are a large corporation. Of course if they meet opposition on something like this, they will, in the end “not take a side,” and simply cancel the event all together. It’s a no brainer. I think, in high school this would have been something that would enrage me. I had a lot of pent up rage then I guess, between my all-girls, liberal, Catholic education and my hatred for the Spice Girls. Now, I look at this, and I think, ok, that sucks, and it’s a damn shame that so many people have a horribly skewed, and incorrect view of Planned Parenthood. They are not only clinics for abortions, and birth control. They are one of the only organizations that offer affordable/free gynecological care for teens and women who otherwise wouldn’t have access to such things. I think it’s important to keep a balanced view of the world, and realize that while you may not agree with everything an organization does, be it Planned Parenthood, or even The American Life League, our right to become so incensed over something like this is what makes us lucky. We are truly blessed to live in a society where we have the right to blog about how pissed off we are that a crazy right wing organization shut down an event for another organization we agree with. The same goes for all you crazy right wingers 
  I’m not saying this doesn’t suck, and that it’s not crappy that one organization can ruin the plans of another to do nothing more than pass out free information, but, hey, in the long run, I hardly see this as a major victory for The American League, nor do I see this as a major loss for Planned Parenthood.Â
What I actually find most interesting/amusing about the post isn’t even the actual post itself, but the thread of comments that follows it.  It jumps from talking about the various misinformation sent out by The American League regarding Planned Parenthood to gun control and Wal-Mart being evil because they sell guns. Always look on the bright side of life folks.
