Lofty Ideals vs. Grubby Reality

One of the most disillusioning aspects of working for a national pro-choice organization was learning about the politics. I don't mean liberal versus conservative or Democrat versus Republican. Nope, these politics were preoccupied with what was going on inside the movement - which organization was doing what, who wasn't sharing information with whom, which head had more perceived clout than another.

I shouldn't have been surprised - movements are made up of people, after all - but still, it kind of sucks. I came in to this work thinking that we all had a common goal, and that should be of paramount concern. Hearing intra-movement gripes - and having to keep track of who disliked whom at any given event - was pretty damn discouraging.

I'm reminded of this now, as Congress is on the brink of defunding Planned Parenthood. Yesterday I biked past my local PP clinic and noticed a large banner above the front door, urging passers-by to text in support of PP. Thanks to my wonky hand, I don't text - but I have already signed a petition to support the organization, and if I actually had elected officials I'd be haranguing them as well.

I think a lot of people were caught off-guard by the House's action. Planned Parenthood's been around for almost one hundred years - in my generation, "Planned Parenthood" is pretty much a euphemism for "abortion." Much like the right to choice itself, we've grown up thinking that since PP has always been there, it will always be there. So we take it for granted, at least some of us, and stop taking the threats to its existence seriously.

I feel like that's changing, to some extent. The House has done a brilliant job of making sure anyone that reads a newspaper knows that Planned Parenthood offers a wide range of services aside from abortion, and provides health care to critically under-served communities. Which is some kind of ironic PR, but hey, no press is bad press, right?

Answering that semi-rhetorical question is a whole other post, and it's taking me long enough to write this one. So instead I'll just attempt to tie this altogether by saying that maybe, in addition to reminding the common man and woman about the importance of affordable family-planning services, the House's actions will also have a positive effect on the movement. Because if this threat isn't big enough to silence the intra-movement squabbling and inspire us all to work together, I don't know want to know what is.