Planned Parenthood v 2017

There have been times in my life that I am so incredibly furious that I swing back around to calm. This is one of those times.

One of the many, many, many...many frustrating things about the debacle we called the 2016 presidential election is how many women seemed to have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Republican Party (side note: can we change it from party to something else? A party tends to be defined by fun and not the systematic destruction of the rights of others. Unless I have been partying wrong.). I heard people on the radio and in real life (like actual human people) say that there was no way Trump or Pence or Ryan or any Republican would move to defund Planned Parenthood. Even when confronted with actual facts (which I know are hard for people who voted for Trump to understand sometimes), they said it wouldn't happen.

Is anyone surprised this is happening now?

The entire election has been about taking away rights. This shouldn't be a shock to anyone's system. Pence signed an incredibly awful law in 2016 (Indiana General Assembly House Bill 1337 for anyone interested in giving yourself a rage headache by reading the entire thing). Short version? In addition to the usual hear the heartbeat, see an ultrasound, and general attempt to ban abortion, it also would have criminalized fetal tissue collection and transportation. Fetal tissue collection is vital in the scientific research on diseases and for tissue donation. Thankfully, a federal judge blocked this law.

The election and the next four years are going to feel like a very long phase of being Cassandra. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she didn't sleep with him, he made it so that no one would believe her. Cassandra literally stood there and was like "Hey guys! If we let Helen of Troy in here, Troy will definitely be destroyed." We all know how that ended.

The Simpsons (FOX)

All of us who stood with Planned Parenthood and said that this was going to happen are unfortunately being proved correct. You know when someone tells you an idea or a plan and you don't like, but a few days later you "think" of it yourself and love it? That's what this feels like to me. People were told on more than one occasion what was going to happen if these anti-choice misogynistic racist demagogues got into office and now they're surprised?!

As good as it feels, ranting and raving won't help. Screaming at people for not paying attention won't either. So, what do we do?

• Donate to Planned Parenthood
• Take action with Planned Parenthood
• Call Speaker Ryan about this first defunding attempt
• Attend local events that are fundraisers for Planned Parenthood (I have at least two coming up!)
• Don't give up

The 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade is on Sunday January 22nd. The 100th anniversary of Planned Parenthood is this year. We need to make sure it isn't the last anniversary for either of them.