“This is Personal” uses gray terminology to promote their black and white agenda. The organization, which is owned by the National Women’s Law Center and primarily funded by Planned Parenthood, uses social media to advocate their cause. According to their Facebook page, the campaign was started in September and has since gained almost 150,000 likes as of Oct. 17, 2012.
Their website makes sweeping claims like “Restrictions on my reproductive health? I won’t stand for it. Join the cause,” and directly link their claims to sites where people can vote with the click of a button. This powerfully persuades viewers to act upon their feelings and seek out their information later, if at all. One button that says “Fired Up?” will take your browser to a list of ways that you can donate and become more involved.
First, the organization claims that they are not affiliated with politics, only with people. This bipartisanship is appealing to the average person who is likely annoyed with politics during this election season. On their website, however, a list of sponsorships reveals a different story. Along with Planned Parenthood are numerous liberal pro-abortion groups, including the Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Masking their agenda and omitting Planned Parenthood’s name from their website is the group’s way of trying to encourage a pristine viral image on the Internet.
“This Is Personal” has also made outlandish statements in what amounts to an attempt to rile up its supporters through false means. One quote found on their website is particularly aimed at incorrectly portraying the acts of medical personnel.
“Pharmacists and pharmacies have refused to dispense birth control or sell emergency contraception to women due to their moral objections. Women in at least 24 states have reported being turned away at the pharmacy when seeking birth control.”
Those at “This Is Personal” would make it so that all pharmacists and pharmacies are required to distribute the “day after pill.” Not only are they promoting abortion, but they are trying to take away the pharmacist’s right to abstain from a sale.
As proven by the Oct. 16 presidential debate, women’s health issues are currently one of the hottest determinants of the election. According to the National Abortion Federation, the abortion rate of women with Medicaid coverage is three times as high as that of other women. The largest and most central box on the “This is Personal” website is a petition to provide coverage for all women. The Alan Guttmacher Institute has determined that in 2009, the average cost of a nonhospital abortion with local anesthesia at 10 weeks of gestation was $451. Not only would enacting the goals of “This is Personal” expand the outrageous number of abortions already being performed, but it would greatly add to our national debt crisis.
Votes will decide what direction our country takes on these decisions. All of us have the opportunity to impact our world, whether it is through becoming an activist or talking to a friend about what you believe in. Mother Teresa put it best when she said that “it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
“This is Personal” is right about one thing: these are issues that should cut straight to the heart and get us “Fired Up.”
karithelight 