Dear Vice President Mike Pence,

I am in disbelief that you would do this. We all feared that this tragic day would come, and here you are, signing it into existence. May I say, I think you have taken America hundreds, if not thousands, of steps back in terms of providing safety and comfort in the realm of intimacy.

President Trump, you have officially taken the LGBTQ+ community off of the census. I, for one, do not think that this is okay. I happen to have many friends who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and now you have made them irrelevant - a feeling that they have been fighting for ages. This is completely unacceptable, in my humble opinion.

However, my qualm does not lay with you at the moment - my issue lays with Vice President Pence. Sir, your actions have caused a lot of anger among my friends and I. We all strongly disagree with your decision to defund Planned Parenthood, an organization and institution that recently celebrated its 100th anniversary of existence.

I do not understand how you could make this decision, unless you were under your own impressions of Planned Parenthood instead of knowing the whole truth.

Planned Parenthood, contrary to popular belief, is not just an abortion clinic. In fact, abortions are not their main focus at all. The main focus of this incredible institution is to provide means for and educate people about safe sex - a thing that is vital to a healthy lifestyle. Planned Parenthood stands to protect women's health as well, such as giving women of all standings access to birth control, emergency contraceptives, and critical screenings such as pap smears and mammograms, which are tests that are key in detecting both breast and cervical cancers. On top of this, Planned Parenthood also provides tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

An organization such as Planned Parenthood is vital in our everyday health care, and to defund it would essentially be incredibly unethical. To defund Planned Parenthood would strip the rights of women to reproductive control. There are so many women out there who rely on birth control as a means for not only control over whether or not they become pregnant, but mainly to regulate their periods. I myself am one of those women. For women like us, periods were commonly hell. Whether they were too long, too heavy, or too inconsistent, birth control was our way of literally controlling when we got them and for how long. Now that you have decided to sign away our rights to our access to birth control, you are condemning us to the wrath of our own reproductive systems.

Defunding Planned Parenthood would also take away easy access to basic and crucial womens' healthcare. Just imagine how many women may detect a severe health issue when it is too late. There could be catastrophic consequences from late detection for both breast and cervical cancers. Would you really risk putting the health of women in danger? Apparently, you are just fine with that.

By voting to defund Planned Parenthood, Vice President Pence, you are taking away our right to education about safe sex for all orientations. You are denying us accessible treatments for various sexually transmitted diseases.

Vice President Pence, you have done America a huge injustice and disservice. I strongly urge you to reconsider your decision, as I believe that your decision was made on an illogical presumption based on theory and rumors and, dare I say it, alternative facts.

Do the right thing, sir: stand with Planned Parenthood, not against it.

Sincerely,

Me