What are we doing?

This is one of those posts when I suppose you could say that I get on a soapbox. With the state of the world today, economy and tragedies that seem never to end, flooding,bad weather and in this state, a threatened shutdown, it really is disheartening to complain about anything. I mean really, where do you even start or should you even start in on anything. There are times when I want to whine about something but then I realize I have my health, I have my home, I can feed myself. Really, what is there to complain about?
On this particular day I am going to make comment on the fact that the news reported that at least 3, maybe it was 4 Planned Parenthood Clinics here in Mn. were going to be forced to shut their doors. They are seeing reduced funding because of rules and changes at the federal level. On every single article that I saw the article always said. "Planned Parenthood, largest provider of abortions..." then the article would go on to say which cities were closing the doors. I guess what makes me the maddest is that PP does so very much more. It provides education, health care for women that have no other options, birth control, family planning issues, screening of STD's.  Resources that would not otherwise be available to a vulnerable part of our population. And why? Because a vocal and misinformed part of the conservative population would have you believe that those who work in PP are doing nothing more than advising women to have abortions. The numbers just do not support that.
Sadly, this is an issue that arguing about with your neighbor will change no one's mind. The minds are already set. So then my questions and really I guess my issue is, how are those that are glad these clinics are closing proposing that we deal with the unwanted children? If we, as a society, don't want to support  the children and we want to cut welfare and aid programs, just exactly how are we going to help these families. If we can provide no access to family planning what are we going to do to help them once they have the children. If we can't give these women and children the help and support they need, why the hell would we want to stop providing birth control and healthy choice options?
I do not advocate abortion as a birth control choice. But I do advocate "choice". There are indeed options out there.Sadly one of them may be abortion. Having worked in an NICU I have seen the results of babies born to poor women and women who make poor choices. What I'm inclined to believe with these decisions is that if we can't help these women and say they deliver a premature infant because of mom's health issues or poor nutrition or poor health care, we will pay lots of tax dollars to have them be in the NICU. But I guess that's okay because they are alive. Yes, I know, I am now getting nasty and sarcastic.
Given the degree of prematurity and complications we're talking long-term financial issues that you and I the taxpayer will have to deal with.
I'm waiting for someone to come forward with a viable plan that will address the needs these women, families and children will have in lieu of the clinics closing. It sounds so simple, close the doors, wipe the hands and "Whew another life saved!" Another job completed. Another mission accomplished for the "right". Another success! Yes, doors are closed and for the politicians and the vocal pro-lifers a smug smile of success. But we will suffer. Yes we will. The young, the poor, those with no other options,they will suffer. There will be needless and senseless deaths from botched abortions. We will have families with unwanted children. We will pay, somewhere down the road, for these insane decisions.
That's my soapbox for today. My thoughts...my blog for today. What are we doing??? WL