One of my favorite books of all time is A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Now I am not going to go into an analysis of the book, though I do suggest everyone read it. I read the book when I was sixteen and as amazing and heartbreaking the entire book is; the one part that sticks with me to this day is when one of the main characters, Laila, who is the second wife to an abusive, manipulative man becomes pregnant with his child. When she realizes that she is carrying his child, she is horrified and she considers giving herself an abortion with a rusty bike spoke. She doesn’t go through with it, but that stuck with me. The book is set in Afghanistan from the early 1960s to the early 2000s, so knowing the historical period, it makes sense that health care for women was not a priority.

This part stuck out to me because I was raised in a religious household. My religion growing up taught me that abortion was wrong. Up until I read this book I thought of it on the same level as murder. Reading that part of the book made me realize the difficult decision women go through when they have an abortion. Some of these women are in abusive relationships that they do not want to bring a child into, some women were raped, some women cannot afford to support a child, and some women don’t want to have a child. It doesn’t matter the reason because it is no one’s business but theirs. I realized if a woman is truly in a place where they do not want to have a child, they are going to find a way to not go through with the pregnancy; and not providing health care services for it will end up being more dangerous and create an environment for more deaths.

“In 1965, illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy — and childbirth — related deaths. A survey conducted between 1965 and 1967 found that 8 in 10 low-income women in New York City who had an abortion attempted a dangerous self-induced procedure.

But now that abortion is legal, it has become one of the safest medical procedures in the United States — with a safety record of over 99 percent, in fact. Moreover, because it is legal, women who decide to have an abortion can receive support throughout the process from medical professionals.” (Planned Parenthood, Abortion Access: Roe v. Wade).

Since then I have come around on my beliefs, I don’t think any higher power would punish a woman for this decision and I honestly don’t think that anyone’s personal beliefs should be involved in the funding or providing of health care services. I don’t think that is wrong for women to go through with an abortion, all women should have a right to do whatever they choose and we should provide proper health care services so that they can do it safely. Abortion is legal now, but there are people who are trying to get rid of Planned Parenthood and repeal the right to have an abortion.

First of all, Planned Parenthood does not only provide abortion services. They provide affordable health care services for STD testing and treatment, contraception, and accompanying health care, education, information and counseling for sexual assault survivors, as well as for people who are going through STD diagnosis, pregnancy, and abortion.

Secondly, abortions are only allowed during the first and second trimesters of a pregnancy. The only time late term abortions would occur is if going through with pregnancy could be a danger to the baby and the woman’s health; and in those cases the baby would not survive birth. The allegations that people make about abortion, saying that it is torture or that a baby is being ripped apart are incorrect and ignorant. For first trimester abortions, there is a pill that can be taken to end a pregnancy. For second trimester abortions there are in-clinic abortions; the most common is called an aspiration, which is also known as vacuum aspiration, and is usually used up to 16 weeks and the other is D&E, which stands for Dilation and Evacuation, and is performed later than 16 weeks. Abortions can only be performed up to 23 weeks.

Thirdly, health care is expensive and Planned Parenthood is not free. Having an abortion in the first trimester costs up to 1500 dollars, (the pill can cost up to 800 dollars) and having one in the second trimester can cost up to 2200 dollars. Those are not definite numbers but the fact is that having an abortion is not cheap; so it is definitely not going to be a decision anyone makes lightly or easily. People protesting against abortion, right in front of the Planned Parenthood locations does not make it any easier either.

People need to get passed their own personal beliefs and understand the importance of providing these services for women, men and young people. Obviously, everyone is allowed to have their own beliefs; you can be pro-life or pro-choice but that should not affect whether or not we have Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood provides a safe place for people to get care for all situations that need a medical help, not just abortion. If we were to stop funding Planned Parenthood the quality of human life would go down; leaving a lot of people without any way to take care of their health issues, other than on their own, which could be dangerous and life threatening. No matter the reason people visit Planned Parenthood, whether it is for STD testing, contraceptives, prenatal care, abortion, counseling, or information, they are helping improve their quality life and that is something every person has a right to and why we need Planned Parenthood.

For anyone looking to support Planned Parenthood, Nasty Gal is selling Nasty Women Unite shirts where the proceeds will be going towards Planned Parenthood funding. You can also visit

http://www.plannedparenthood.org to donate and find more information.