Planned Parenthood, and most Democrats I’m sure, would like to keep the fictitious war on women front and center.  The Democrats would prefer any topic not involving the economy or foreign policy.  Planned Parenthood knows their funding is at risk if Republicans are elected throughout the country.

The Virginia senate race is no exception.  In the third installment of mailers sent to voters there this week, we meet Julie Bindeman. (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/planned-parenthood-continues-anti-romney-mail-push-in-virginia/?hpt=hp_t2)  In the Planned Parenthood funded mailer, she is quoted as saying, “At a routine doctor’s visit, a scan identified aspects of my baby’s brain that were malformed.  My husband and I had to make a deeply personal decision.  It was not easy and it had nothing to do with politics.”

If it “has nothing to do with politics,” how on earth did Julie Bindeman’s story end up on a political mailer in Virginia?  I will certainly contend that abortion is “deeply personal.”  What better way to assure something stays personal than by sharing your decision with thousands of strangers?

The mailer implies that the choice was to abort their baby.  We don’t even know if that’s accurate.  What was the deeply personal decision?  Did she have an abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic? 

A little research shows us that Julie Bindeman is Dr. Julie Bindeman, a licensed psychologist specializing in reproductive psychology (https://www.facebook.com/clark.mead#!/drbindeman).   Her website, drjulieb.com , contains a blog.  In it she refers to elective abortions as “interrupted” pregnancies.  In another blog, titled “The Fight Over Fertility,” Dr. Bindeman refers to the passage of laws regarding “personhood.”  She appears to be against such laws as they pertain to invitro and unused embryos.  However, I couldn’t help but notice in the ad she used the word “baby” in describing her own pregnancy. 

My question to her is: can you have it both ways?  Why is it when you don’t want a child it’s referred to as a fetus or an embryo but when you want a child, it’s a baby?  Is defining “personhood” a bad thing?  If life doesn’t begin at conception, when does it?

The mailer being used by Planned Parenthood clearly isn’t of a random patient.  Dr. Bindeman has a website, a blog, speaks publicly, has a practice, and is on several boards according to her biography.  It is very much her right to speak out on this issue.  But it did make me wonder why she didn’t speak out as a doctor?  Certainly she has medical expertise in the area of “reproductive rights,” doesn’t  she?

I cannot speak on Dr. Bindeman’s loss other than to say I am deeply sorry.  I cannot imagine losing a child.  I cannot conceive of it.  I can only speak as a parent of a child with special needs.  I can only speak as a parent that chose a different path.  Whether it was better or worse is not for me to decide.  It’s not for you to decide, either.

I can say unequivocally I do not understand her choice to make public her decision.  She has to know her choice is controversial to many.  It’s going to be a topic for debate.  The topic of abortion always is and will continue to be.   When you announce your decision to the 212,000 Virginia voters that received the cards and to millions of internet users across the country, it’s no longer a private matter either. 

Image: Views of a Foetus in the Womb (c. 1510 – 1512); Leonardo da Vinci; public domain