Planned Parenthood was my primary source of health care when I first moved out of my house though. They did my PAP tests, they prescribed my birth control, they answered my questions. They kept me safe and child-free, and they never once made me feel ashamed that as a student, going to school 35 hours a week, and working the rest, uninsured, I was at the dead bottom of the sliding scale. I walked in and out for over two years, and I think I paid maybe $20 total for everything they did for me. It may not have even been that much, but I think, towards the end, I started having to pay five lousy bucks for a three month supply of pills. Three months of the freedom to be sexually active, and worry much less about pregnancy because I controlled when I took my pills. Three months of lighter cramps, which meant less money on Advil, and more time to work. Three months of the freedom from my crippling mood swings that allowed me to move out, to be independent, and to go back to school - something I'd thought I'd never do.
The staff at my Center City Philadelphia PP was always great - some of the best medical care I've had the privilege to receive. They decorated the stirrups with silly oven mitts, so your feet wouldn't get cold. There were cheerful posters on the wall and ceiling. They warmed the lube, they warmed the speculae. Small things, those, but they make a difference. The big things, too. They never asked about my scars. They never treated me differently when they found out I was bipolar. In fact, knowing my history in full, when I asked for Depo-Provera, the physician chuckled and said that if she prescribed that to me, with my history, the board should have her license. I didn't get what I wanted, but I got a doctor who was aware of what she was prescribing, and saw me as an individual, and I appreciate that.
We need Planned Parenthood in this country because every woman has the right to go to a doctor who can listen to her, and provide her with the care she needs, no matter what. PP gave me the help I needed, when I needed it, without question. They gave me the tools I needed to live my life, without judgement. I don't know that Planned Parenthood saved my life - I did a lot of that work myself - but they do save the lives of others, in so many different ways.
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