Right Wing/Fundamentalist Birth Control

This just in from the great state of Texas:

"Abstinence is the only acceptable birth control": this is the only sex education information teenagers receive in Texan schools. This training is wrapped around a religious message of morality and fear and also teaches that birth control doesn't work.


The teen pregnancy rate in Texas is 50% higher than the national average. Texas also leads the nation in second pregnancies among teens.


It turns out that Texas kids thought that "if birth control doesn't work, why use it?"


Governor Rick Perry swears that abstinence works. 


Blueskygirl supposes he is technically correct.

Why Only Vera House?

My respect for any agency that supports girls and women is great, and it is a good day when any public service agency makes the news.

When Ann Marie Buerkle is public in Washington about her support for Vera House in Syracuse, an agency that has long been rock solidly there for women and men who are victims of domestic violence and/or rape, I applaud her. That we are reminded of the need and the services every year at this time by the White Ribbon Campaign is important.

Therefore I cannot for the life of me think why Ann Marie would be so totally against Planned Parenthood. In so many ways Planned Parenthood and Vera House are similar, and the two agencies share many of the same values and concerns.

I cannot document with numbers but I think, based on years of work in many areas of social services, that there are crossover service needs between these two agencies and many other local programs as well.

Vera House and Planned Parenthood do not offer duplicate services. They offer companion services because any person who comes for services at either one may well have more than one need, not always able to be filled by the primary agency.

For example:

• A woman who has been raped may also want reproductive services, up to and including, though not necessarily, an abortion. Planned Parenthood is an option.
• While a woman is being seen for family planning services, the nurse may learn that the woman is in a situation at home that includes domestic abuse. Her children may also be in danger. The family may need sheltering. Vera House can help.
• A man or woman being abused at home may realize she/he needs to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases and ask for a referral to PP.
• A clinic patient may disclose her own childhood abuse and be referred to Vera House for counseling.

The budgets for the two agencies, Vera House and Planned Parenthood have many similarities. What I want to address from here onward is that both receive a share of their budgets from government entities. In fact they cannot operate without these monies. Our federal and state governments have both deemed human services as areas that smaller communities and individuals cannot provide by themselves.

On Vera House's website there are very nice pie charts showing the following, which cannot be copied to here but I recommend you visit. Here is Vera House's budget picture for 2009:

Support and Revenue

2009 Support and Revenue as %

Government Fees & Grants 71%

Private Donations 14%

United Way  9%

Fees 3%

Other Revenue 3%

2009 Support and Revenue in $

Government Fees & Grants $2,379,539

Private Donations 464,284

United Way 302,151

Fees 107,414

Other Revenue 105,003

Total Support & Revenue $3,358,391

Expenses

2009 Expenses as %

p = program expenses, s = program support expenses

Emergency Shelter  p 28%

Counseling  p 20%

Education & Awareness  p 20%

Outreach & Advocacy  p 18%

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner  p 5%

Fundraising  s 4%

Alternatives  p 3%

Administrative  s 2%

Program Services (p) in $  =  94%

Emergency Shelter $852,549

Counseling 632,301

Education & Community Awareness 594,903

Outreach & Advocacy 565,195

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner 156,467

Alternatives 124,350

Total Program Expenses $2,925,765

Supporting Services (s) in $  = 6%

Fundraising  $134,403

Administrative 57,718

Total Supporting Services  $192,121

Total Expenses $3,117,886

        _________________

Next is the national budget for Planned Parenthood. I do not have local numbers but believe that local numbers are more or less reflected in the national budget. The actual numbers for the two entities, Vera House and Planned Parenthood are obviously therefore miles apart. But there are programs comparable to Vera House all over the land who receive federal Titles money, for which I am thankful. I show this next budget to illustrate how Planned Parenthood compares to Vera House for reliance upon government funding:

Let me also say, for the record, that I wish sister agencies could look out for each other. What is being done to women by harming Planned Parenthood is violence of a sort. I wish for Vera House and its counterparts to find public ways to advocate for Planned Parenthood.

Questions for Ann Marie Buerkle's Next Town Hall Meeting, and the One After That...

Ms. Buerkle, you promised us honesty and transparency during your campaign. You promised that you would try to find common ground. The election results indicate that you won by only a very small margin, so it is safe to assume that there are a great many people who would like to know you share their concerns about where this country is headed. 

Now that you have gotten your feet wet in Washington, would you be so kind as to answer some questions for us?

• You talked repeatedly about job creation and job recovery during your campaign. Since the election you do not talk about jobs. Why?  

• What are your plans, and your party's plans, for job recovery?

• Since you personally benefitted during your campaign from NPR public radio and PBS television, how can you now vote to defund public broadcasting? 

• Do you personally listen to or watch public broadcasting?

• What are you doing to keep several hundred jobs in NYS which are part of the 1200 jobs in the Northeast that National Grid is eliminating? Or do you support eliminating those jobs? Do you know why they are being eliminated?

• Do you subscribe to the idea that President Obama is not an American-born citizen? Do you need to see his birth certificate before you believe he was born on US soil?

• What do you think about what is happening in Wisconsin?

• Knowing what you do, from your multi-faceted career and volunteer experience, 
• about the needs of people and families without health insurance; 
• about people who need to be represented by an attorney and lack the funds to afford one; 
• about women (and men) who have experienced domestic abuse; 
• about the importance of family planning and reproductive health,                      

             then how do you justify cutting funds to or eliminating programs that help the neediest among us?

• What is your position on nuclear power?

• How do you respond to the idea of the threat that the nuclear power plants near Oswego and Rochester pose either by terrorists or by natural disaster?  We think about how relatively easy it might be for a terrorist group, domestic or foreign, to crash a plane into a plant or for employees and contractors to infiltrate a plant over time. Do you think continuing generation of electricity using nuclear power is sustainable given the enormous costs in treasure, safety and security?

• Why did you accept a large collective contribution from Paul Singer and several of his employees at Elliott Associates and Elliott Management, both powerful hedge funds? Do you know that Paul Singer is a modern-day robber baron who crushes whole countries for profit?

• Do you understand the importance of the separation of church and state in a democracy? Would you be willing to describe and discuss its importance so that we are all clear about this judicial and Constitutional concept?