Three die-hard Planned Parenthood activists took to the rainy streets in Shaker Heights recently in hopes of advocating women’s health care and perhaps a view of President Obama after he gave his speech.

The weather was nothing less than ominous as we drove to Shaker Heights, but with rain gear in tow we took to the streets with other activists who we soon found out were not advocating the same views. Within minutes of claiming a spot on the street and holding up our pink “Protect Women’s Health” signs a group of people with “abortion is not health care” signs took up next to us, but thankfully just stood there silently. However the experience only strengthened my resolve to make the point that the reproductive health care women receive now, must be part of future health care plans.

As a college student struggling to pay bills I know first-hand the importance of Planned Parenthood clinics. I have used their services for years. I am friends with countless women who get their birth control, yearly cancer screenings, STD testing and on occasion Plan B, exclusively from Planned Parenthood. But my girl friends are not the only people in need of Planned Parenthood, every gay man I know gets HIV testing done there.

As I stood in the rain, I thought of all this, of all the people close to me, and people I have never met who would suffer if we lost the option to go to Planned Parenthood. I shudder to think of the consequences of losing Planned Parenthood. And I realized it all comes down to us, the volunteers and advocates who are willing to stand in the rain and get yelled at, we are the ones making Planned Parenthood’s voice heard to communities and lawmakers. We could have gone back to the car and got some coffee and chalked the afternoon up as a waste of time, but we stuck it out and the day ended up being a success.

Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio's Elizabeth Bowen gave a radio interview and answered questions for a TV station blog, and Tiffany Holbrook and I forced our way into the background of a TV spot with our Planned Parenthood signs held high.

There will always be opposition, there will always be taunts and jeers. So it is up to us to make sure that we will always be there to respond, to stand for what Planned Parenthood works so hard for. It’s not always a glamorous job, but we have to do it.