What are your important issues? (1 Viewer)

[wardorican]

Forget the current headlines. Forget the manufactured talking points. What are the big issues you care about? Or the small ones that don't get enough attention?

I'm just going to rattle off a few. I may dig into these more later. In no special order...

1. Infrastructure investment. The major categories being road transportation, flood protection / drainage, electrical grid resiliency, and better mass transit, especially rail. Our rail systems, outside of a few areas like Chicago, NYC, DC.. are just awful. They don't serve enough of the areas. They aren't tying the Suburbs, and towns nearby to the major city centers and major concentrations of Industry.
   1. A - I'd have much preferred no tax cut for the wealthy, and use that money towards Infrastructure. I don't mind some of the corporate tax cuts (not a fan of profitable companies finding ways to pay $0 in taxes.. that's unfair), but take a little back to go towards infrastructure and mass transit, which will boost productivity and lower congestion in major cities.
2. Wage growth. Not just min wage, all wages. Not sure what the government policy could be to drive this, but it's a huge pet issue for me.
3. Technology. Finding the balance between a company being large enough to have stability/security (think Apple, Microsoft, Samsung) to have things work well, but no so large as to stifle all competition and drive up prices. Also, who controls/owns our data. If my data is so valuable, why can't I be compensated for it?
4. Education funding. It's ridiculous how much the States cut from Colleges and how little they controlled their growth since the 1990's. That's why tuition is out of control. So, it's not just the funding issue, but also the lack of forcing public Universities to cap operating budget increases. In college, tuition increases was probably one of the biggest things I tried to fight against when in Student Government. We usually failed, but I did get one win on that topic, when I realized the committee that year was being somewhat dishonest about the increases, and called them out in public about it.

I care about a lot of other things, but I'm going to stop with these four.

 

[Ayo]

That isn't what that data says. It says 80% of their services is for birth control, not abortion (ie prevent unintended pregnancies).

I thought maybe I was getting hung up on semantics, but that struck me, too. "Prevent unintended pregnancies" - how does that apply to abortion procedures? An abortion is a procedure on an actual pregnancy. How can abortion be something to prevent a pregnancy? A delivery, sure. So I assumed that "prevent" would mean birth control services.

 

[Lazybones]

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm giving you a data driven method that will reduce the number of abortions, and you reject it out of hand. You say that there is no price on life, but you seem unwilling to pay for methods that have been shown to reduce abortions.

Please see article above.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Please see article above.

I did... maybe you should re-read it?

 

[Lazybones]

I thought maybe I was getting hung up on semantics, but that struck me, too. "Prevent unintended pregnancies" - how does that apply to abortion procedures? An abortion is a procedure on an actual pregnancy. How can abortion be something to prevent a pregnancy? A delivery, sure. So I assumed that "prevent" would mean birth control services.

I can provide other similar articles. However, it’s pretty clear. If 80% of what they do is prevent unwanted pregnancies and 3 % of what they do is abortions, that means 80% of the abortions are to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And I want to reiterate, this is only planned parenthood.

If someone had a better source that refuted what I have said above, please provide it.

 

[Lazybones]

I did... maybe you should re-read it?

Is there info out there that refutes this claim? I guess these are some of those facts that Jim was talking about.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I can provide other similar articles. However, it’s pretty clear. If 80% of what they do is prevent unwanted pregnancies and 3 % of what they do is abortions, that means 80% of the abortions are to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And I want to reiterate, this is only planned parenthood.

If someone had a better source that refuted what I have said above, please provide it.

No that isn't what that means. An abortion doesn't prevent unwanted pregnancy - it terminates an unwanted pregnancy. I don't know how to make this more clear to you.

80% of Planned Parenthood services are for things to prevent pregnancies - which means birth control.

This is basic statistics.

 

[Ayo]

If 80% of what they do is prevent unwanted pregnancies and 3 % of what they do is abortions, that means 80% of the abortions are to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

what?

also, do condoms prevent unwanted pregnancies?

 

[Lazybones]

No that isn't what that means. An abortion doesn't prevent unwanted pregnancy - it terminates an unwanted pregnancy. I don't know how to make this more clear to you.

80% of Planned Parenthood services are for things to prevent pregnancies - which means birth control.

This is basic statistics.

Ummmm ok.

My 5th graded had a word problem very similar to the above. I’m pretty sure she got it right. I’m glad I’m good at basic statistics.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

Ummmm ok. Bill Clinton did not have sex with that woman.

I really think you need to take a step back and read that again. 80% of Planned Parenthood is birth control. That is what that article says.

 

[Lazybones]

I really think you need to take a step back and read that again. 80% of Planned Parenthood is birth control. That is what that article says.

actually it doesn’t. I quoted exactly above.

Lets not argue. Please provide info saying that hundreds of thousands of pregnancies are terminated via abortion out of necessity. It should be easy info to find.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

actually it doesn’t. I quoted exactly above.

Right but you aren't understanding what it says.

80% of what they do is to prevent unwanted pregnancy. That has nothing to do with the reasons for anyone's abortion. That stat is not related to abortion at all. It's pretty clear.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Ummmm ok.

My 5th graded had a word problem very similar to the above. I’m pretty sure she got it right. I’m glad I’m good at basic statistics.

Hypothetically, you are in a gas station. A guy storms in with a gun and demands all the money in the register. You spring into action, being the brave and heroic person that you are, and subdue the robber.

Did you:

A) Prevent an unwanted robbery; or
B) Terminate an unwanted robbery after it began?

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

I'm going to break this down very simply.

Planned Parenthood had roughly 10.8 million services provided.
8.64 million were for birth control to prevent pregnancies (birth control pills, condoms, etc)
1.8 million were for something else (mammograms, pap test, STI tests and treatments)
300 thousand were for abortion

That is what your article said.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

actually it doesn’t. I quoted exactly above.

Lets not argue. Please provide info saying that hundreds of thousands of pregnancies are terminated via abortion out of necessity. It should be easy info to find.

Nobody is making that claim. The only claim that was made was your claim that hundreds of thousands of women have abortions every year because it is convenient. You have failed to provide any evidence for that claim.

 

[Lazybones]

Right but you aren't understanding what it says.

80% of what they do is to prevent unwanted pregnancy. That has nothing to do with the reasons for anyone's abortion. That stat is not related to abortion at all. It's pretty clear.

please provide any info saying other wise. Look these nbrs are out there. I don’t need to do all the work here.

 

[Ayo]

I'm going to break this down very simply.

Planned Parenthood had roughly 10.8 million patients.
8.64 million were for birth control to prevent pregnancies
1.8 million were for something else
300 thousand were for abortion

That is what your article said.

from the article:

The vast majority of federal money that Planned Parenthood does receive goes toward preventive health care, birth control, pregnancy tests and other women's health services.

also:

Sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment:
Planned Parenthood says this accounts for 42% of the services provided. (The GAO calculates 41% in 2012 by affiliates)

4.2 million tests and treatments in 2014
This represents the largest proportion of medical services provided

finally, the phrase "Pregnancy Prevention" is in the language for the section on contraception - not Abortion

Pregnancy Prevention and Birth Control

• Planned Parenthood says it prevents an estimated 579,000 unintended pregnancies per year.
• Contraception accounted for 34% of the services it provided, according to the 2015 GAO report.

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

please provide any info saying other wise. Look these nbrs are out there. I don’t need to do all the work here.

I'm not making a claim about the numbers done for convenience. You are.

To be honest though, if you want to prevent abortions and you think they are done for convenience, then shouldn't you support making birth control easier to obtain?

 

[Lazybones]

This is the excerpt from the article. 80% of the below is to prevent unintended pregnancies (I’m not even referencing the 950k emergency contraception kits). 3 % of what they do is abortions. As you see abortions is listed below with things like pap smears.


With a focus on prevention, Planned Parenthood said that 80% of its patients receive services to prevent unintended pregnancy.
What services does Planned Parenthood offer?
This is how its services break down:
Abortion

• Planned Parenthood says 3% of the services it provides are abortions.
• 323,999 abortions were performed in 2014, according to the organization.

Sexual education

• Planned Parenthood says it provides sex education to 1.5 million young people and adults each year.

Pregnancy prevention and birth control

• Planned Parenthood says it prevents an estimated 579,000 unintended pregnancies per year.
• Contraception accounted for 34% of the services it provided, according to the 2015 GAO report.

In 2014, Planned Parenthood saw:

• 2 milion reversible contraception patients
• 941,589 emergency contraception kits
• 3,445 vasectomies
• 718 female sterilization procedures

Pregnancy tests: 1.1 million tests done in 2014
Prenatal care: provided to 17,419 people in 2014
Sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment

• Planned Parenthood says this accounts for 42% of the services provided. (The GAO calculates 41% in 2012 by affiliates.)
• 4.2 million tests and treatments provided in 2014
• This represents the largest proportion of medical services provided.

Pap smears (cervical cancer screening):270,000 per year
Breast exams: 360,000 per year