Planned Parenthood

I am really getting sick of people attacking Planned Parenthood. People seem to think all Planned Parenthood is out to do is destroy fetus’. They’re for family planning. They’re for helping people. Like 3% of what they do is abortions and yet that’s all they get flack for. They never get any good press. Get the facts.

If they do ANYTHING wrong, it’s like open season. They get flack from Congress, the Republicans, and basically anyone who is pro-life.

Planned Parenthood is one of the only places where women can go and get help and not be judged. (Besides by those idiot protesters who stand out front of the Planned Parenthood offices holding up stupid signs of dead babies; cause that’s effective.)

Women who are poor, women who are in college, any woman can go to Planned Parenthood and get their yearly examinations and mammograms for free; without insurance. It’s one of the only places that does this. They can even get birth control for free.

I know; I did it for years. I didn’t have health insurance for ten years of my life (through high school and college). Planned Parenthood was there for me.

I take offense to anyone who wants to smear them and tear them down. They’re doing good things. Why can’t people and the press see that? They’re helping people.


No Glass Ceiling?

My husband, a loving Liberal, does not believe in the glass ceiling for women.

Reflecting on National Women’s Day, I think about how women have changed the work force. Although we have in major ways, I feel like it hasn’t been enough. The statistics simply do not show that women are making that much of an impact in breaking through the glass ceiling.

More women are now going to college and graduating than men. However, women still make less than their male colleagues in the same fields. Only 4% of Fortune 500 Company CEO’s are women. This year women hold only 97 (or 18.1%) of the 535 congressional seats (PDF – 663 KB) according to Center for American Women and Politics.

I think these kinds of barriers can be broken through confidence. I think that if we were to give girls at a young age the strength and confidence they can grow up to be as good (if not better) than their male colleagues. I feel this in my own life, for example, when I was applying for jobs. I wouldn’t dare apply for a job that I did not meet 100% of requirements. However, my husband has applied for jobs of which he’s had little experience.

I feel in order to break through this glass ceiling, women need to be given confidence at a young age. It would also help if we started to elect more women to congress and get more women in top positions, therefore providing more examples that we can do it.

Also to note I did a paper and presentation (PDF – 16 KB) about women in my own field (computer science) in college. The statistics and data haven’t changed much since then.