More On DBQ Planned Parenthood's Cut in Hours

The more I watch how Planned Parenthood, the more I am convinced that the can only tell the truth when they absolutely have to. & even then, you can be sure it will be surrounded by lies & half truths.

On 18 January 2011 I put up a post celebrating the cut back in hours of the local PP site. I also pointed out my concerns about this making it all the more certain they would bring in telemed abortions because they were definitely losing money.

The new hours went ino effect on 17 January. However there wasn't an article about the reduced hours in the DBQ paper until last Saturday. & with all the March for Life coverage, etc, I haven't been able to get to it until now.

Interestingly enough the TH article had them cutting back to 17 hours rather than the 16 the sign they put up at the site said. The TH had them open 9-5 on Wednesdays instead of the 10-5 the sign they put up said. I have to wonder who slipped up. Rhetorical question of course, since it was PP that did since they put the sign up & an e-mail sent out by PPH CEO Jill June was mentioned in the article. So PP's communications dropped the ball one way or another. In the e-mail she gave the following explanation for the changes: "Any changes that are made or will be made to the Dubuque Health Center schedule are due to the needs of our clients and the management practices of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, not in response to anything done by political organizations who oppose access to birth control."

The honest part of this statement is that the changes are due to management practices & not just those of PPH. Planned Parenthood has made it more than clear that their affiliates are to up the bottom line, & increase the number of abortions being done to do so. & in Iowa that means expanding the locations that offer telemed abortions. So, she may not say it, but it is clear that the direction they are heading is adding that "service" to what the DBQ site offers.

Notice how she tries to label DBQ Co Right to Life as a political organization. She knows full well DCRTL isn't. & she very carefully avoids the word abortion as well.

As for the needs of the clients? Well, despite her claims to the contrary, it isn't their needs, but the lack of them that brought about this cutback in hours. She talks about expanding the number of hours commited to exams has been expanded: "Here in Iowa, only 50 percent of women who need family planning are able to access care. Planned Parenthood recognizes their need. We are increasing our exam hours to better serve women, men and families in Dubuque."

1st of all, you notice that she doesn't tell us exactly how many hours were committed to exams in the past or how many more were added. She just makes a nice vague claim that has nothing to back it up.

Then there is the way she defines family planning as health care. It is as if it were simply a sickness or an illness to be treated. As for the 50% claim, well, that raises more than a few questions that they don't want to be asked.

PP is always talking about how rural areas are especially lacking in this & that women can't get to big cities for the care needed. Yet most of their sites are in the larger communities. So why aren't they opening more sites in rural areas? But when the Monticello site didn't make a go, they closed it claiming these same women were going to the CR or DBQ sites. Talk about trying to have it both ways.

That Monticello site was originally openned because a "University of Iowa study that showed Jones County in great need of reproductive healthcare". Then, when the so-called need didn't materialize they closed the site using the excuse I already mentioned. I am left questioning the accuracy of that study in the 1st place. Or at least the accuracy of PP's claims about what was in the study. Speaking of studies, in their 2010 annual report Jill June & PPH bragged about a study done by Iowa for them in order "to estimate the prevalence of intimate partner violence among women seeking elective abortions and ascertain their baseline characteristics, needs and resources." Interestingly enough, they make no mention of the results of that study in the report, just that it was published online in the American Journal of Public Health. True, it is found in the August 2010 issue. But what they fail to mention is that to access the info you have to be a subscriber to the American Journal of Public Health Online. So the average person is unable to get any real info, just the abstract.

1 line in that abstract is very interesting. It says "Abortion patients experience high intimate partner violence rates, indicating the need for targeted screening and community-based referral." Hmmm!!!!! Maybe PP doesn't want the results to get out because it will show that high rate is because the men are using violence to force women to have an abortion when, if left to themselves, those women would NOT choose to have an abortion. & we can have anything undermine the myth that abortion is simply a woman's choice.

So, maybe the original study done by PPECI to open the Monticello clinic in the 1st place didn't say what PP claims it said either. Gee, another lie from PP??? Probably! & when they start telemed abortions here, you can be sure they will say that their research showed a need for that as well.

TH article: Planned Parenthood cuts hours