When I was in elementary school through middle school I was part of a group of 6 campfire girls. We met weekly at different homes and had activities and projects to learn life skills. In 5th grade, one of our sessions at my home involved learning the most important lessons of all. How our own bodies worked. That day a Planned Parenthood educator came and sat in my living room with anatomically correct models that came apart in order to explain to 6, 11 year old girls how their bodies worked, what changes were happening to them, what changes were happening to the boys, and how in the future we might keep our bodies healthy. I will never forget how powerful that was as a learning experience, not just the actual information transmitted to us in a scientific and logical way, but the understanding that all questions could be answered, and that in the future there would always be a place to turn to get help.

As a graduate student without health insurance, Planned Parenthood became my annual visit for regular women’s well care exams. It was excellent medical care, it was affordable, it was private, and I knew any questions or concerns I had would always be answered with truth and science.

A few years ago I was in the car with my then 5 year old daughter and we were headed to the Starbucks drive-through to get a snack. On the way, I had to ask her to close her eyes because there were some very scary looking posters being held up in front of the Starbucks entrance. Of course they were there to scare women away from Planned Parenthood. My daughter asked me why those people would do that. I explained to her that they didn’t believe that women should be able to decide whether or not they wanted to have children. I asked what she thought. She said no one was every going to force her to do anything with her body she didn’t want to have happen. I said, “Amen sister.”

This morning, I was driving her to school and she asked about my T-shirt. I told her I was going to be speaking here today. I asked her, she’s now 8, if she remembers what Planned Parenthood is. She said, “They are the ones that help make sure no one has to be pregnant if they don’t want to be.” And again I said, “Amen sister.”

Of course Planned Parenthood is more than just helping women avoid pregnancy. They are educators, they are medical professionals, they are social workers. Planned Parenthood helps every one of us, women and men, old and young, rich and poor, understand and gain access to all of our options, including regular well-care visits, including cancer screenings, including Sexually transmitted infections screenings and treatments. And of course there is also easy, healthy, and inexpensive access to the most important tool for any woman who wants to take control of her own life, birth control. And when necessary for all of the moral and decent reasons that a woman or couple would choose it, there is access to legal, safe, abortion.

These are not selfish choices. These are moral choices. My religious tradition teaches me that male and female were created in the image of God. We, every one of us are Klei Kodesh, holy vessels. As a holy vessel created in God’s image I have a moral obligation to take care of my health. My eyes, my teeth, exercise, eat well, take my vitamins, etc. As a woman, my health includes every part of my body, reproductive organs included. Planned Parenthood provides health care to everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Planned Parenthood ensures that low income men and women have access to health care. Planned Parenthood ensures that women’s health, the part that includes female reproductive organs is looked after. As a religious person, I have an obligation to ensure that health care is available to everyone. By supporting Planned Parenthood I help to ensure that.

As a religious practitioner, as a teacher, as a leader of a congregation, I teach  our kids and our adults that a full life includes a sexual life. I teach in my congregation that healthy sexual relationships is part of a well lived religious life. My tradition teaches me that a spiritual life is always connected to a physical life. We have a blessing we say as part of our morning services which thanks God for a functioning body. We say, “Praise to you, our God, who formed the human body with skill creating the body’s many pathways and openings. It is well known before Your throne of glory that if one of them be wrongly opened or closed, it would be impossible to endure and stand before You.” We understand that without properly caring for our bodies we cannot have a proper spiritual life. If our bodies are not working the way that they should, if they are sick, if they are abused, if they are being forced to carry unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies, our religious and spiritual life will suffer.

I stand today and every day with Planned Parenthood because I care about women’s health. I stand today and every day with Planned Parenthood because I care about access to accurate sex education and birth control. I stand today and every day with Planned Parenthood because I know there are a myriad of good an moral reasons to terminate a pregnancy and I trust women to make the decisions that are the most moral and healthy for their lives and their families.