Category: Jenny Carrillo

Folks – today is the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. While the debates for the Republican Presidential primary continue to stoke the flames of dispute about the human right for universal healthcare, it’s time to pause and reflect on an important human right that was reaffirmed on this date, 39 years ago, in the historic ruling ofRoe v. Wade – specifically the right to privacy regarding the medical decision whether or not to have an abortion. On January 22, 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the landmark Roe v. Wade case. This historic ruling reiterated that individuals, not politicians, should have the right to make their own medical decisions – medical decisions are private decisions that should occur between the patient and doctor.  More narrowly, the decision ensured that the right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution permits a woman to choose whether to continue…

Ideologically, it just makes sense.  For Komen andPlanned Parenthood, women’s health is the priority.  Funding the lifesaving care Planned Parenthood provides has always seemed like a “but of course” for Komen supporters. And yes, I may be biased a bit.  But lest things seem muddier than they are, let me explain.  I came to believe in the work of Planned Parenthood from a very logical examination of the work PP does as part of my own educational journey. It’s simply academic.  There’s sound rational justification.

The winter holiday season has arrived, and although Halloween is a bit more of a distant memory, I’m still chuckling at the display of anger and frustration exhibited by little munchkinsaround the US when  their parents declared they had ostensibly eaten the candy of their little  looters while they slept (Thanks, Jimmy Kimmel!).  Little ones across the country were hollering in utter frustration when the unspoken rule of an  American tradition – keeping one’s spoils after a hard night’s toil of “trick  or treating” – appeared to have been broken. Folks – it’s rough to think we have had our candy stolen from us! This becomes abundantly clear in the war cries of stolen money sounded in the debates about our national debt – who has the money, who took it for their own purposes, who deserves it and for what purposes, etc.?  Screams of  violation reverberate across the country…