Hey, I've seen a lot of people saying that you should support smaller-scale abortion facilities instead of spending on Planned Parenthood because, according to them, PP already has plenty of money.
While I totally support donating to local abortion care facilities, I think it's really dangerous to be spreading around misinformation about Planned Parenthood, so here are a list of reasons that Planned Parenthood is a really worthwhile resource right about now:
- Planned Parenthood has a large legal fund and they know how to use it. Not only will they work on-the-ground to provide reproductive health services, they will work on the legislative level in every state to fight the legal battles that are about to become very fucking necessary. Donate directly to abortion services, yes - but if you want to protect the legality of abortion and the right to privacy in the doctor's office, Planned Parenthood's legal team will fight in the places where you, as an individual, cannot.
- I've heard some people saying that Planned Parenthood actually does damage to the reproductive justice community because they "take up all the talking space" and then they'll say "well, abortion is only a small amount of what Planned Parenthood does" thus stigmatizing abortion. While I can't speak for every PP facility, in my experience during my volunteer trainings, THIS IS MISINFORMATION. Outside supporters of PP will say this ABOUT Planned Parenthood, but at my volunteer trainings the workers actually had us do spoken activities to de-stigmatize abortion for anyone who needed it. We were given multiple "abortion is good, actually" talks.
- On that note, the things PP does aside from abortion are actually very important. One thing they do is distribute INFORMATION on a widespread scale. This information will often focus on important things to know about pregnancy health, when abortion might be needed, and communicative campaigns to spread abortion stories with specific participants' consent in order to de-stigmatize abortion and spread awareness.
- A number of smaller "Pregnancy Crisis Centers" disguise themselves as abortion providers, but are really fundamentalist Christian centers in disguise. These centers will abuse and psychologically torture people who were planning on coming in for abortions. However, a Planned Parenthood is always what it says it will be. I support Planned Parenthood because I know exactly what my money is going to when I make donations.
If you do know of a smaller abortion facility that needs funding, by all means, donate! (Also if you go on PP's website you can choose a PP facility to fund directly, if you don't want your donation to go into their large legal fund.) But if you're supporting a smaller center, do make sure that they really are a legitimate abortion provider before you donate.
Let's not spread misinformation or be divisive, people! That will only hurt reproductive justice, in the end. If you want to support small-scale abortion care centers, absolutely do that. It will be very much needed in the coming months. But you can do that without dunking on Planned Parenthood and all that they do for reproductive rights, justice, and healthcare. It is entirely possible to be supportive of both.
