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A few nights ago I, along with several friends from the School of Social Work, volunteered to do some phonebanking for Planned Parenthood around Senator McCain and his record on health issues that affect women and children. (Which, by the way, is absolutely wretched. If you’d like to learn more so you have some fact-based ammunition when McCain supporters phonebank YOU, go to www.plannedparenthoodaction.org).
All in all, the night was pretty swell. Our targeted areas were the more conservative, middle-class areas of mid-Michigan, and we were specifically directed to speak to the women in the house. You can imagine that there was many a husband who, looking at the caller ID, grabbed that phone before you could say bobsyouruncle and demanded to know why were we were calling. Several men refused to hand the phone over to their wives, in fact. The script was fairly general: we introduced ourselves as Planned Parenthood volunteers and asked if they were aware of John McCain’s DANGEROUS positions on women’s health. Some people immediately said, “Oh yeah, and I’m voting for Obama,” to which we would reply, “Excellent!” and then go into a spiel about whatever pro-choice candidate was running for the House in their district. If they answered that they were a supporter of McCain, we would also politely end the call. The more undecided people would say, “Hmm, I don’t know,” and we would explain a few things about McCain and his voting record on issues that affect women and their families (such as: he does not support SCHIP, he does not support mandatory contraceptive equity for insurance providers, he was part of the bill that made the cost of birth control on college campuses skyrocket, he’s for abstinence-only education, he’s for the global gag rule, he thinks Roe v. Wade ought to be overturned…need I say more?)
I was a little conflicted about participating because I know Planned Parenthood has endorsed Obama for president and–full disclosure–I’m not voting for him.* But we weren’t really talking too much about Obama’s positions–it was more of an awareness-raising effort in order to conscientize women to the fact that yet another old white dude from the ruling classes and military elite (well, as elite as you can be in the bottom three of your graduating class at the naval academy) does not have our best interests in mind. In fact, I don’t think he’s thought much about women at all, despite his MAVERICK appointment of Sarah Palin as running mate.
One thing that stood out to me was the immediate reaction most people had when I said I was calling as a representative of Planned Parenthood. Even among more moderate types, the organization really strikes a chord with people–it’s seen as this super-radical, way-out-in-deep-left-field kind of agency, which it isn’t in the slightest. In our ultra-conservative society where misogyny runs rampant despite four decades of modern feminism, declaring you’re a proponet of “women’s health” is an extremely ideologically risky position for politicians to take, as if the health of women is a political issue. Although the majority of services Planned Parenthood provides are related to physical health–cervical exams and pap smears, HIV/AIDS education, and so forth–people instantly think “ABORTIONISTS!”
In fact, Planned Parenthood clinics who do provide abortions are much rarer than you would think. In New York City, there was only one PP affiliate where you could go for a D & C (although there are other clinics and hospitals that perform them). In Missouri, as far as I know, there are only three places in the entire state where you can go for an abortion, including in cases of rape. Clinics are far more likely to help you out with an STD, your birth control prescription, or free condoms. But this is apparently lost on the moral majority in the anti-choice movement–among whom there certainly lurk women who have themselves had abortions.
I didn’t have anyone yell at me, but I did have several people either hang up on me, tell me acidly they did not wish to discuss the election with me, and one lady informed me, “It’s called morality–something you obviously don’t have!” The most interesting call was placed to one of the households in which the husband, overcome by curiosity after seeing “Planned Parenthood” on his caller ID, took the phone from his wife and said, “We’re McCain supporters here, you’re wasting your breath. And you know what else?”
“Umm..what?” I asked.
“We’re adoptive parents. We adopted a girl.”
At first I thought, “Why is he telling me this? What relevance does this have to supporting McCain or the election?” I actually wondered briefly if Sarah Palin was an adoptive parent and they were trying to stand in solidarity with her. THEN I remembered that he was probably giving me the adoption information because he figured Planned Parenthood does not support adoption (which is ridiculous). Trying not to laugh, I said, “Yeah? That’s awesome, good for you.”
There was a pause, because he was obviously taken aback. “Oh yeah? You think…you think that’s great, do you?”
“I totally do. I’m sure you’ve given her a loving home.” (Albeit one in which what she does with her uterus is left to the mercy of the Supreme Court.) I wondered if he thought I was going to say, “What? That’s terrible. Her mother should have aborted her.”
Apparently still reeling from trying to reconcile the fact that I was both volunteering for Planned Parenthood and cool with adoption, he stammered, “Well, I think you need to pray with me, miss.”
(I hate it when people, especially older men, call me “miss.” It’s got that historical ick factor–like, “Miss, I’m only calling you this because I’m too civilized to say ‘bitch’.”)
“Sir, I have to make other calls. I was only trying to talk to your wife about the election, and if you’re already supporting McCain, I’ll leave you to your evening.”
“You don’t want to pray with me? I think you ought to pray with me,” he persisted.
I said, “I’m sorry, sir. Have a good evening,” and hung up.
In retrospect, I think it would have blown his mind if I had agreed. How cool would it have been had I said, “Cool, let’s pray. I’ll go first,” and then laid something really heartfelt down. Although it was true I did have a lot of other calls to make, I mostly opted out of the prayer because I was worried that he would say something awful, like, “Lord, Satan has got this woman in his grasp,” and I’d have to hang up on him. I had already debunked one of his myths for the night–that pro-choicers are anti-adoption (what part of CHOICE do people not understand?)–and the second, that pro-choicers are all Satanists or atheists or hate all displays of spirituality, may just have blown his mind.
Luckily, the next call a woman answered, and after I started going into my spiel she interrupted me, laughing, and said, “Girl, you don’t have to worry about me, I wouldn’t vote for that man if you paid me. Keep up the good work.”
*Please don’t tar and feather me until you’ve read my Election Day post.
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