November 21, 2011
In my limited travels through a handful of American ghettos I’ve noticed one very conspicuous consistency, and that is the presence of Planned Parenthood. Whether it be Oakland, Portland, Atlanta, or Los Angeles I find it interesting that some of the most desolate and underserved communities in the entire country somehow manage to attain a Planned Parenthood. Because of this fact in some of these neighborhoods abortions have become more accessible than fresh produce. It puzzles me. But I guess when it comes to the hood businesses are set up to control the population rather than to serve the community.
These are the kind of thoughts that keep me up at night.
-YB
ghettosun 
I hear what you’re saying, but there have also been times in my life when Planned Parenthood offered the only medical care I could afford. I was so grateful for them then, and I’m grateful for them now, for being there for people who can’t afford healthcare in this country of ours. At least they can get care there, and birth control, and HIV testing, and yeah, abortions if that’s what they want/need, but I found a fact sheet Planned Parenthood put out (I googled planned parenthood statistics, and this pdf was the second hit) and according to their figures, 35% of their services were contraception, 34% were STI/STD testing, 17% cancer screening, 10% other women’s health services (pregnancy tests, prenatal care, etc.), 3% abortions, 1% other services. They helped nearly 11 million people, and in that 11 million, they performed about 324,000 abortions. And being a former Catholic school girl, I can tell you that there are a lot of women wanting abortions in this country, not just in the ghetto.
I definitely agree with everything you have stated. My major concern is about who chooses to install a planned parenthood in a neighborhood that needs so many things. Why can’t we just have a real hospital in the hood instead of having to depend on Planned Parenthood for contraception and other needs? It’s the same thing with liquor stores. Instead of people having to buy certain food and household items from liquor stores why can’t they just build a grocery store like a normal community. In my East Oakland community it’s like this; the people of color go to white communities to shop at Macy’s, see an affordable mechanic, shop at a CLEAN grocery store, go to the bookstore, go to college, and buy a vehicle and then all the upper class folk come to our neighborhood to buy illegal drugs and go to Planned Parenthood. What’s up with that? I’m just saying.
population control is a real issue but i don’t think abortion is as major a component of it as some would have us think.
public hospitals are underfunded, so it would make sense that an organization like planned parenthood would fill those gaps. i know planned parenthood’s history is very complex when it comes to race so i’d be in support of community controlled health centers (that provide abortion, contraception, etc) but i don’t know how realistic that is… from what i’ve read the Young Lords had a progressive position on abortion that proposed a community controlled type of situation but i can’t remember if anything was actually put into place.
Wow I thought the Young Lords were a gang Ms. G. That’s pretty deep.
Nina G said it best about the history of PP. The founder, Margaret Sanger was accused of being a active member of the Eugenics Society and also doing a speaking engagement at a klan rally.
With those tags on her, she was made out to be a racially biased population control advocate. It’s true that a large majority of PP centers were located in black/brown ghettos initially, but have since spread out to other communities and at the same time, expanded their services beyond abortions.
I grew up in the Shallow East, so I had Lucky’s fairly close by, but I know what you’re saying about Deep East. All you had was that big store at Eastmont or the corner store for groceries. The crime rate was the main factor keeping the “name brand” stores away.
But you know what? We don’t have to wait on the white-owned chains to move into the East. All we need is some proper capital for startup and open our own. But now, you’re credit better be good…lol.
The banks in our own community are far less likely to give black people money to start businesses. The lending practices are extremely unfair and did you say shallow east. Ha ha ha that’s hella funny 🙂