The bill would:
"...prohibit any organization or individual that provides abortion from going into our schools to provide classroom material or curriculum. These entities are benefiting financially when their programs fail and that has to come to an end."
The bill is being sponsored by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-26, Harrisonburg) and Delegate Tim Hugo (R-40, Centreville) and is a blatant attack on Planned Parenthood.
One can only wonder at the logic of, "Of course, Planned Parenthood benefits financially when...a young girl ends up at their clinic to get the drugs or have an abortion - and has to pay for it. In this scheme, Planned Parenthood gets paid by taxpayers to educate kids, and then gets paid by the kids to eliminate "the problem" caused when the education doesn't work."
The recent decision by Governor Kaine to cut abstinence-only sex education funding is apparently too much for our local fundies to take. You can practically see the froth around the mouth of the press release writer when you read, "One of their primary agenda items nationally is to end abstience education programs. They also distribute so-called emergency contraception and have worked to be able to get that drug to children without either a doctor's prescription or a parent's involvement."
Two things to mention. First, the writer was so incensed at Planned Parenthood's ability to deliver medically-accurate and age appropriate sex education they overlooked the spell check before hitting send. Second, not that I expect any truth to their missives, but the morning-after pill (emergency contraception) is available over the counter and doesn't require a doctor's prescription unless you are under 18. If you are under 18 there are different protocols that are adhered dependant on age and personal situation characteristics. But all are in accordance with state and federal law and common medical practice.
I would ask that you contact Senator Obenshain's and Delegate Hugo's offices with the scant hope that they will listen to an immoral heathen like you (or me!) but I can also provide a link to the main Virginia Legislator Finder site (http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform) and hope you find your own legislator's contact information to voice your opinions to them.
Also, I could invite you to join us at Pro-Choice Lobby Day at the capitol on January 31st (http://www.ppaction.org/ppav/events/2008prochoicelobbyday/details.tcl).
We have made some wonderful strides lately with regard to women's reproductive health in Virginia. Governor Kaine's cutting of abstinence-only funding and refusal to accept Title V funding for abstinence-only sex education sets a wonderful precedent. We need to build on that to repel attacks on Planned Parenthood like this one from the Family Foundation. Planned Parenthood has always been a protector and defender of reproductive health rights and a supporter of prevention through education. This bill is yet another ploy of the radical right to subjugate our citizens' health and education to their pseudo-moral stances.