The conservative attacks on Planned Parenthood just keep coming. Using the Center for Medical Progress’s undercover videos — the third of which was released today — as their excuse, anti-choicers in Congress have renewed their long-time goal of defunding the organization, fast-tracking a bill to do so last week. Anti-Planned Parenthood rallies are taking place in multiple cities today. And yesterday anti-choice hackers attempted an attack on Planned Parenthood’s information systems. They claim to have gotten employee names and emails and are threatening to reveal the organization’s internal emails.
While the FBI is investigating the breach, it’s so far unclear the hackers have actually accessed the information they claim to. But, as reproductive rights activist and tech expert Michelle Kinsey Bruns points out on Twitter, “if the goal is to terrorize PP staff & clients—& for [the anti-choice movement] it usually is—you could do worse than claiming you HACKED ALL THE THINGS. You don’t even need to do it. You just need to make people think you did.” Indeed, a hack would be a violation of privacy — and of federal law — but the only reason it can function as a threat is that we live in country where abortion clinic doctors and staff are regularly harassed, stalked, intimidated, and murdered.
This atmosphere of fear is enforced by the anti-choice movement’s deliberate campaign of terrorism but it’s enabled by the widespread stigma around abortion. Which is why projects like Humans of Planned Parenthood — to show public, unapologetic, proud support for the services Planned Parenthood clinics provide — are so important. Planned Parenthood serves nearly 3 million Americans each year. About 300,000 of them get abortions; the rest get pap smears, or birth control, or cancer screenings, or STD testing. Overall, they are very thankful to be able to get this needed health care, which is perhaps why in a poll released today, a strong majority of voters oppose efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
“I will always be there for Planned Parenthood, because Planned Parenthood has always been there for me. The comprehensive sex education I received through Planned Parenthood validated my identity for the first time, and empowered me to take control of my body and sexuality.” (Photo via Humans of Planned Parenthood.)
“At age 18 I didn’t have a mom and needed birth control. After a brutal abstinence-only experience in my public school I found Planned Parenthood with a Google search. I’ve been involved and grateful ever since.” (Photo via Humans of Planned Parenthood)
“I now have a job that provides health insurance but for 10 years I was employed part time as a waitress while working my way through college and had NO access to any sort of healthcare. Planned Parenthood provided me with annual exams, access to birth control pills and especially the sexual education that allowed me to plan my child’s birth for when we were emotionally and financially ready to become parents.” (Photo via Humans of Planned Parenthood)
You can submit your own photo to humansofplannedparenthood@gmail.com. And let’s help get some stories up from humans who’ve gone to Planned Parenthood for abortions too.
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