Over the course of history the women we have read about in our textbooks have been shamed, persecuted, and criminalized for fighting for their biological rights. Margaret Sanger was one of those women fighting for us so we would not have to be afraid of asking for help, seeking an abortion or any form of heath care, and certainly not being ashamed of our human nature and our choice. Sanger is quoted saying “No woman can call herself free if she does not control her own body”.

So I must ask, after all the women before us and what we have fought for, is it really worth it to have a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood?

Millions of women across the United States in hundreds of different and diverse cities and towns utilize the safe and affordable health care they provide. Get this straight: Planned Parenthood is not an abortion factory, it is a safe haven. An America without affordable healthcare is not America. An America where women are being told to simply “keep their legs closed” so they do not get pregnant, are judged for being sexual active and not wanting to conceive a child is also not America. America is a place of choices and without the right of choice, what kind of America would we being living in?

There are many places in this world where women are not being allowed get abortions even in cases of rape. For example, I hope many of you have heard the story about a little 11 year old girl from Paraguay who was raped and not allowed to have an abortion when her doctors found out she was pregnant. This girl had to face the emotional trauma of this situation and her small body was put in danger. She will never be the same, how could she be? Imagine yourself at her age, raped, pregnant, and life in danger. How could anyone in their right mind be okay with this?

Well, Gov. Mike Huckabee known for his pro life stance weighed in and said:

“Let's not compound a tragedy by taking yet another life. A 10-year-old girl being raped is horrible. But does it solve a problem by taking the life of an innocent child? And that's really the issue, There are two victims. One is the child; the other is that birth mother who often will go through extraordinary guilt years later when she begins to think through what happened -- with the baby, with her. And again, there are no easy answers here, I just come down on the side that life is precious; every life has worth and value. I don't think we discount the intrinsic worth of any human being, and I don't know where else to go with it than just to be consistent and say, if life matters, and that's a person, then every life matters.”.

This left me shocked. Do these people on his side of the spectrum not see what is wrong with what happened? Clearly these are people without any understanding.

America is an example to many countries. If we support Planned Parenthood, more countries will want the same. Also, where there are no legal abortions women will then seek dangerous black market abortions. In these black market abortions, more women than ever will be at risk. A domino effect will happen if a future leader of our country defunds Planned Parenthood. Without access to affordable birth control plans more women will have unwanted pregnancies, seek dangerous abortions, and the consequence of this could be death.

We as a nation need to remember that we are role models to the rest of the world. It is the people’s job to fight for our rights and make our voices heard. Those who want to defund Planned Parenthood do not understand because they have not been in these situations. So, if you have never been in these types of situations remember that this is still your fight as much as it is the little girl in Paraguay’s; as much as your friend who got an abortion. This fight crosses genders, races, sexualities, and religions. This is our fight and we can all change the future for generations to come.