I am the second generation of my family to be helped by Planned Parenthood of Indiana. When my parents moved to Bloomington right after their wedding nearly 30 years ago, my father's income was $0. They couldn't afford birth control, but they could afford a child even less. Planned Parenthood gave my mother birth control at no charge, thanks to their sliding scale.

Years later, when the time came that mothers worry about what their daughters are doing, she took me aside and said that I should never be afraid to talk to her. But if I was, or if I had no insurance for some reason, or just couldn't afford it on my own, I should go to Planned Parenthood and let them help me. She repeated the advice a few times, and it sunk in.

When the time came that I needed birth control, I went to Planned Parenthood, ironically enough, also in Bloomington. There I found the answers to my questions, and help without judgment. For four years, through not being ready to have “that” conversation with my mother, not having health insurance, job changes, or moves to three different cities, Planned Parenthood was there for me. It was a sense of relief for both me and my husband that regardless of how much money we had (or often, didn't have), or where in Indiana we lived, or what jobs we had, that we had affordable access to birth control. And although I no longer use them as my birth control provider, it's still a sense of relief to me to know that if I need them again, they will help me.

These arguments over funding affect so much more than whether or not people get abortions in Indiana. They affect whether people are able to choose when and if to have children. They affect how soon people in this state find out that they have STDs, or cancer. These political battles jeopardize the health and welfare of women and men in this state, and lawmakers don’t seem to care. They don’t look at the other aspects of this story, or the consequences of their actions.

My husband and I are childfree. We feel that our family is just fine with the two of us and our two dogs. If I accidentally became pregnant one day, I can't say with certainty what my decision would be. But I do know this: thanks to Planned Parenthood of Indiana, it's a decision I've never had to make.

Planned Parenthood's battles, both here in Indiana, and across the country are far from over. I ask on their behalf; if you've got a little room in your charitable donations budget, please consider donating to them. To donate to Planned Parenthood of Indiana, visit their website. If you would prefer to donate to the national organization, or want to find out how to donate to your local Planned Parenthood, visit the national website

(Also, many thanks to my mother, both for the good advice, and for letting me tell her story too. Love you Momma!)

To read the other blog carnival entries, check out the master list

 Chris and I rolled our butts out of bed this morning to go to Richmond. Mama and Daddy finally got themselves a couple of flat screens and Blu Ray players, so they were looking to get rid of their old TVs. We only have an itty bitty TV in the office, and it's hard to see from over by the desk, so we took one of their old TVs off their hands to replace that one. It also means that I will have somewhere to go to watch other TV when Chris wants to watch Colts games this fall.

After we got back, Chris had to leave for work, and I went grocery shopping. There's something about grocery shopping that always inspires me to get in the kitchen and get things done, so I came home and hardboiled some eggs for Chris to eat this week. Then I made red velvet cupcakes, which are cooling right now. After I eat dinner (so that I can condense the leftover baked mostachiolli into some Tupperware and clean out my 9 x 13 pan), I'm going to make chicken enchiladas for tomorrow's dinner. Later this week I'm going to make my first attempt at vodka sauce.

Well, I think my cupcakes are cooled. Time to go frost them with cream cheese frosting. NOM.

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I don't know how long I've spent doing it at one time, but the longest consecutive amount of time I've spend doing one thing was probably reading. Especially during summer breaks in high school, getting me out of my room and my nose out of a book was nearly impossible.

You were right.

I just finished Shards of Honor about an hour ago, and I would have posted before now, but I was too busy trying to hunt down copies (in vain) through the library. Sigh. Buying them in ebook form one at a time it is. It'll be worth it, as they definitely seem to have rereadability.

Anyway, thanks for the rec! 

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I'd pay off Chris's car so that we had no more car payments and much cheaper car insurance.

I did a small friends cut. It's nothing personal, just people I didn't feel like I'd really connected with. I wish you all the best! 

I'm feeling rather depressed right now. I sat down and made a serious study of my degree requirements, and where I'm at in meeting those requirements. Turns out, I'm about 30 credit hours from my degree. Two solid semesters if I put my head down and just barrel right on through.

Excited by this prospect, I tried to enroll in classes for spring semester. Most of the classes I need aren't being offered this semester, and of those that are, none of them are online, and none are offered on the same day (or even two days!) during the week in order to consolidate my driving an hour and a half one way to get to the class.

I need one more English class, and both of the ones offered online are full, but I'm first in the wait-list position, so whichever one I get first is the one I'll take. And I'm taking one political science class on Wednesday night. Six credit hours. Chris is taking 15 this semester. I feel like such a slacker.

There's nothing for it, I guess. I'll have to transfer campuses to the one in Indianapolis for the fall semester. That way even if I have to be in person multiple times a week,  I won't lose entire days from my work schedule. Sigh. So it's at least one more full year after this.

Christopher ended up in a ditch this evening. As both he and the company vehicle are fine, you are all now welcome to point and laugh with me. XD

 Uncle Sam continues his highly annoying shenanigans regarding Christopher's bonus. I haven't gotten the full story from Chris yet, but the last I heard from him today, someone in the chain of command is denying him the list of dates he supposedly has unexcused absences for. Seriously. The unit advisor is trying to help him fight it, and for once his platoon seems cooperative instead of just shitty, so there's a little ray of hope there, but this song and dance is getting old. To me, the fact that they won't even give him the list of dates just seems shady. If you're in the right, why not show him?

In halfway decent news, the unit is cutting him some slack about drill next month. His drill weekend is the weekend we're supposed to start moving stuff into the new apartment. The goal is to get all the piddly crap we can take in our cars over there during the weekend, and then do the big rental truck move the following Monday -- leaving us almost ten days to clean and repaint our current apartment before we turn the keys in. The turnaround on this and my ability to help is pretty limited, as that Monday is the one before Thanksgiving, and I work in retail. Chris is going to have to go to Ohio for drill on Saturday, because they have a record PT test (which, at the rate he's improving, he has a chance of passing, although he still won't make tape). But once the test is over, he's excused. Given all the problems we're having, the platoon sgt. promised to excuse it for him in writing. Preferably in triplicate, lol.

I have to go grocery shopping in the next couple of days. There's almost nothing to eat in this apartment, lol. Definitely nothing that doesn't require preparation. Maybe Chris will go with me after work tomorrow. Other than drill, that lucky duck is only going to have to work one day this week, and he only worked two days last week. This is what comes of being a salaried government employee with something like 15 paid holidays a year!

The weather needs to make up its mind what it wants to do. The apartment is back up to 80 degrees again, and I am fighting tooth and nail the urge to turn on the air conditioner. The really disappointing thing is we have all of these cute fall clothes at work, that I cannot justify buying until the weather turns and stays cool enough to wear them. I did buy winter moccasins the other day (I have recently developed an abhorrence of socks, and moccasins seem to be the perfect solution), but they're still in their box because they're too fuzzy to wear right now.