One subject that has been prominent for reproductive health clinics is "reproductive life planning". That is, talking to women about when they want to get pregnant and planning optimum health for that time. And also talking with them about their ability to conceive.
 I am quite happy with this post at Jezebel http://jezebel.com/5859741/the-fertility-denial-complex?popular=true about women not knowing much about how likely they are to conceive. It is unfortunate, but at this time for American women, our "sociology" does not match our "biology". What is the best time to conceive? In our 20s. When are we ready to start a family? Not often until our 30s or 40s. 
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The other day a religious friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to a website that criticizes Planned Parenthood as a big corporation that is only in the business for "profit". It is interesting that a mission-driven, non-for-profit corporation could come under such criticism. Our clinic is not a Planned Parenthood affiliate, and we do not have the same problems with abortion politics, but we share a lot of the same concerns. The whole publicity machine talking about Planned Parenthood leads me to these questions:
Do we risk alienating our clients and our critics by making our clinics too nice?
Do we have the right to demand political support from the same people who use our services?
How do we talk about our services while acknowledging our support for reproduc

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We got our first call today asking if we would be open for business during a government shut down. In short, the answer is yes. More troubling is the long term picture for clinics like ours. Here are the issues:
1. Planned Parenthood under fire. We are not a Planned Parenthood affiliate so this issue does not affect us directly. However, the attacks on funding Planned Parenthood show political will to end all family planning programs. Also, if Planned Parenthoods across the country shut down, who will see those clients?
2. Title X funding under fire. The House Republican's budget proposal to zero out Title X funding for the remainder of 2011 is not likely to be enacted, but if it did? That money is what we use to buy your birth control and provide you services. If it was gone, we would have to charge everyone higher fees or shut our doors.
What can you do? Well, you can call your Congresswoman. You can donate money to our clinic to help it stay afloat. You can keep yourself aware of the issues. We need your support  if we are going to survive the recession and the related political discussions!
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