Letter to Editor: Student Urges Members of His Generation to Attend Planned Parenthood Rally on Saturday

This summer, before entering my senior year at Occidental College, I interned for a nonprofit who provides health care. Its commitment to doing so is unwavering, fearless, and evident in all its work.

That organization is Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley. Nationally, Planned Parenthood provides 10 million services (97% of which are preventive) to 4 million people every year. In light of several slanderous, widely discredited videos, some lawmakers have threatened to shut down the government unless Planned Parenthood is stripped of federal funding.

This Saturday, September 19 at 10 a.m., Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley is holding a rally on the steps of Pasadena City Hall. I urge members of my generation to attend. Deception fueled by technology is a hallmark of the new political world we are inheriting, and media saturation ensures that the most outrageous voices will be the ones we hear first. If we’re to be politically literate in the 21st century, we must stand up for what’s true, even when what’s false makes better click bait. We must fight like our healthcare depends on it.

It does.

Brian Erickson
Occidental Class of 2016