I have written about Planned Parenthood before in various contexts and how much I love and support the organization. And a part of that support comes from the accessibility and welcoming atmosphere of many of the clinics. Planned Parenthood does mean so much to so many (although we as a whole could be more gender neutral in how we talk about reproductive and health justice) because of the work they do on a daily basis. (And as far as I know, Planned Parenthood doesn’t lie to people, unlike crisis pregnancy centers do.)

Some of my support for Planned Parenthood comes from my support of accessible and competent health care for everyone, something that Planned Parenthood does provide on a regular basis. It’s important to be supportive and cultural competent about numerous issues to allow people to feel safe coming in and getting help for their health issues. And it’s important that health care professionals are educated about the various issues that impact different people, like how the disparities that LGBTQ+ people face in health care.

A part of accessible health care is destroying the stigma around different things, like HIV or abortion or being fat or mental health, that might prevent people from coming in or even getting the medical care that they need. Danielle Campoamor wrote about how her abortion almost killed her because of the stigma that exists around abortion (and not the actual procedure). Others have also discussed living with HIV stigma, like the people in the below video.

Affordability is also an important aspect in this discussion because being able to afford health care and procedures is starting to be a luxury and privilege rather than a right. Nancy K. Kaufman wrote about how many state legislatures have been working to restrict access to reproductive health care and how the Hyde Amendment from 1976 financially puts abortion out of reach for many people. One study (titled the Turnaway Study) looked at the link between access and income as far as abortion goes.