Our Stories
Amanda
Planned Parenthood has marked almost every milestone of my reproductive health.
I simply would not recognize my life without the difference PP has made in it, and I can’t say for sure I’d even still be here if it weren’t for them.
As a young woman in need of affordable birth control, I made my first appointment at a PP clinic following the advice of a friend – “They don’t just do abortions, you know.” I didn’t! I was a relatively healthy young person with no insurance, and after that, Planned Parenthood became my primary health care provider for nearly two decades. Annual well person and breast exams, Pap tests – all were provided at a cost I could manage in a setting that felt safe and non-judgmental.
When I had several irregular Pap results, I was able to obtain a colposcopy at an only-slightly-farther-away PP clinic. When I needed a different method of birth control, when I needed STI testing, when I needed an abortion – as life dealt its best and worst blows, Planned Parenthood saw me through it all. In my thirties, with a career and finally some ‘good’ health insurance, I’d find myself missing the sanctuary of the open-minded staff and culture of my Planned Parenthood. And now, as I attempt to co- parent a teenager, I am grateful for the amazing resources they offer for reproductive health, sexuality, and healthy relationships.
“Likewise, if I had not had access to abortion care all those years ago, I would have struggled with infinitely more hurdles on my way to becoming the person I love being today. My life would be unrecognizable. This teenager wouldn’t know me. My abortion gave me my life. ”
The biggest debt of gratitude I owe, however, is for those times Planned Parenthood helped save my life. In 2017, I was 41 years old and experiencing highly irregular menstruation. Rather than seek the care of my OB/GYN, I opted to put my dollars to use at Planned Parenthood. Blood work and labs from the Knoxville clinic showed I was menopausal, which set in motion a series of events that led to the diagnosis of my breast cancer. If not for Planned Parenthood’s accessible care and counsel, I have to wonder how long it might have been before I discovered my cancer and whether I would have had enough time to fight it. I continue to give my time and energy to my local Planned Parenthood because I want every young person to have the opportunities I did. So should you.
Anna
In high school, I was a part of Planned Parenthood’s FYI Peer Education Program.
FYI is a way for a small group of students from local high schools to get educated about issues of safe sex, sexuality, gender, healthy relationships, and in turn take that information back to their peers and correct any misinformation they hear around these issues. I was very lucky in that my parents taught me quite a bit in the realm of sex ed. So I was not solely reliant on the city sponsored sex ed. But many of my peers were not so lucky. While I don’t remember any part of my school’s sex ed directly being misinformation, it was very limited in its scope, and many things were left out or brushed over.
Planned Parenthood gave me the tools and the information to help educate my peers about safe sex and healthy sexuality. The light they switched on for me in turn lit up the conversations a lot of other kids got to have amongst themselves, a domino effect that showed me what’s possible when education creates lasting change from the ground up. I also ended up having these important conversations with those who were not my peers, who were older, who held positions of power. Planned Parenthood empowered me to engage in those conversations.
“Planned Parenthood taught me a lot about the world and about myself, and I am sure they have done similar things for others. I hope in the future it can continue this vital work and provide for others all the invaluable things it provided for me. ”
While the education they provided was crucial, PP also helped me discover an interest in activism and organizing. Planned Parenthood not only provides exceptional health care (which I have utilized as well), but they also do necessary work within
the community, advocating for equal rights and equal treatment as well as doing important lobbying in Nashville. We were responsible for planning and organizing our own events, so we learned how to engage with the community. Planned Parenthood allowed me to experience this advocacy in a safe way, surrounded by other young people desperate for change.
Kirby
My name is Kirby, and I am entering my third year as an FYI Peer Educator for Planned Parenthood.
My own sex education growing up was lackluster at best. When I joined FYI, all I knew was I didn’t know much and needed to know a lot more. The information I received at the FYI sessions was a revelation – accurate, inclusive, and nonjudgmental. But it’s the space Planned Parenthood creates to have these conversations that makes the education so powerful.
The lack of bias, the absence of judgment, objective and intimate, encouraging of questions. In other words, a safe space. I walked away from those sessions with information that helped keep myself and others safe and healthy. And more urgently, I learned that the human body, in every make and model, is human and nothing to be ashamed of.
“The education expands beyond learning itself. Peer Educators serve as both students and teachers. As we learn, we are taught to teach. The ability to relay information that is intensely wanted by friends and peers who deserve it...is as much an honor as it is a necessity. ”
Furthermore, being a teacher is a kind of education on its own. Having your knowledge tested by new questions, or familiar questions with new angles, allows both parties to grow in new ways.
People have all kinds of things going on around their sexuality. Sometimes those you encounter are not those you were prepared to teach. And as a Peer Educator, I learned very quickly that it is vital to meet people where they are. FYI teaches its students to be trustworthy. We are taught to give the facts and to respect that people need to be understood.
Knowledge is power. But it is nothing without empathy, patience, and a capacity for listening. With the incredible results in my life, I know we have an obligation to expand FYI’s reach and pay it forward. The qualities I have had a chance to develop with FYI touch every other area of my life, the person I get to be for myself and others. It’s the same for so many of my fellow educators.