Appeal from Rev. Marcia Dyson to Help Keep Title X from being on the Congress Cutting Floor

Below is a message from Rev. Marcia Dyson about how the proposed budget cuts will impact Planned Parenthood. Rev. Dyson is one of our nation’s foremost religious figures, spiritual writers and noted civic-social activist. Her special brand of wisdom and insight has been shared in leading pulpits across America, on lecture stages at many of the nation’s outstanding universities, and on the pages of some of our country’s most provocative magazines and books. When she speaks, we should listen!

FROM REV. MARCIA DYSON:

Dear Sister Friend:

If the House budget is passed by the Senate, Planned Parenthood’s 800+ health centers will be barred from receiving any federal funds to provide lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screenings, annual exams, birth control, or HIV testing, or testing and treatment of other sexually transmitted infections. Women, teens and men of all races will lose access to basic, affordable care – and many of them will have nowhere else to turn for it. Sixty percent of Planned Parenthood’s patients consider PP their primary source of health care.

African Americans—who have higher rates of preventable conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, HIV, and unintended pregnancy—would be hard hit. Many lack health insurance or access to affordable, high-quality services in their neighborhoods. In 2009, 15 percent of Planned Parenthood patients were African-American—a total of 400,000 people. Twenty percent of patients who benefit from Title X are African-American and approximately 1.4 million Medicaid patients would be cut off.

In addition to speaking to organizations, professional groups and religious leaders, you can also write Op-Eds for local papers and offer to appear on local radio and TV talk shows to discuss how these proposed cuts will negatively impact African-American communities around the country.

Here are other ways to help:
– Sign the petition! Visit Planned Parenthood’s website (www.istandwithplannedparenthood.org) to sign a letter to Congress telling them not to bar funding.

– Share your story! One in five women will visit a Planned Parenthood health center during her lifetime. Tell Planned Parenthood how they helped you detect a lifesaving illness, get information about contraception, or another personal story. (www.ppaction.org/mystory)

– Raise your voice! Join me in Washington D.C. on Thursday, April 7 for a lobby day and rally. Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters will be there to send a message to Congress to stop playing politics with women’s health. Please contact Carol McDonald at carol.mcdonald [at] ppfa.org for more information.

Rev. Marcia L. Dyson

“I am my Sister’s Keeper! should be the hearty response of every man and woman of the human race and this conviction should purify and exalt the narrow, selfish and petty personal aims of life into a noble and sacred purpose.” Anna Julia Haywood Cooper Speech in 1886