The U.S. Senate will vote this week on a bill that would defund the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a non-profit organization that provides reproductive health services.
This week’s bill follows the release of four videos in which Planned Parenthood officials allegedly discussed the selling of aborted baby parts, with actors posing as representatives from a human biologics company.
Ad
I will be the first to admit that I am pro-abortion rights and I admire Planned Parenthood for their willingness to help women. But after reading about those videos, I was completely disgusted. How could an organization that does so much good even consider doing something so horrible (not to mention that the selling of aborted baby parts is very much illegal)? Whether you’re an avid anti-abortion protestor or an active feminist that regularly volunteers at abortion clinics, the allegations against Planned Parenthood are very disturbing.
Despite my feelings about those videos, I still have to stand beside Planned Parenthood and support the continuation of their funds. A few Planned Parenthood representatives should not be treated as representatives for the entire organization.
There are so many adjectives that come to mind to describe those in the video who threw Planned Parenthood under the bus, but we have to remember that they do not speak for the entire organization, which has done as much for women’s health than any other organization in this country. Defunding a program that has made such an impact in the world of women’s health would be a huge mistake, and here are five reasons why.
Planned Parenthood is America’s largest provider of sex education.
Remember in middle school when we were forced to sit in the auditorium and listen to someone talk about those “gross” issues as we giggled uncomfortably? And then that same person gave everyone a condom? That was most likely a representative from Planned Parenthood.
People are going to have sex. It is basically inevitable. This means sex education is extremely important, and Planned Parenthood is the organization which makes this issue a priority.
Defunding Planned Parenthood could result in more unplanned pregnancies and more abortions.
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest health care provider. In 2012, the organization provided 3.7 million women with contraceptives. That is a lot of women utilizing Planned Parenthood to prevent pregnancy.
If 3.7 million women are no longer able to access birth control, there is a good possibility that some of them will experience an unplanned pregnancy, and unplanned pregnancies are often the cause of abortions. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, abortions would never be a woman’s first choice. Remember, pro-choice doesn’t mean pro-abortion. Advocates fight for a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, but that doesn’t mean they go around cheering every time a women has one.
Planned Parenthood is their name, women advocacy is their game.
Planned Parenthood supports policies at the state and federal level that improve women’s health services. There are 7 million activists, protestors and donors affiliated with Planned Parenthood that fight for advancements in reproductive health every day.
Ad
The very idea of Planned Parenthood is to empower women by giving them the freedom to choose what to do with their bodies and the means to do it.
Planned Parenthood services are not all controversial.
Planned Parenthood provides multiple health services, including sexually transmitted disease testing & treatment, contraception, cancer screening and prevention, pregnancy tests, prenatal services, family practice services, adoption referrals and urinary tract infections treatments.
Imagine the impact of these services no longer being available when 4.7 million people utilize them.
Only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortions.
Despite all of the controversial headlines, Planned Parenthood rarely performs abortions.
Cutting Planned Parenthood’s funding because of a conversation between a handful of Planned Parenthood representatives is at the least unreasonable and at the most irresponsible. Making this incident a political agenda is typical of Capitol Hill. Their priority seems to be about propagandizing an issue rather than calling for those Planned Parenthood representatives to face the legal issue of what was seen in the video. Cutting funding for Planned Parenthood would be a huge setback for women’s health rights.
Collegian Reporter Randi Mattox can be reached at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @randi_mattox.
smartone • Aug 15, 2015 at 8:52 am
We were told ObamaCare would take care of all this services. So we have to pay trillions for ObamaCare and millions for Planned Parenthood? When does it end.
ace • Aug 11, 2015 at 2:03 am
From an article titled: “Studies: Birth Control, Contraception Don’t Cut Abortions”
“…Planned Parenthood’s own affiliate, the Guttmacher Institute, showed simultaneous increases in both abortion rates and contraceptive use in the U.S., Cuba, Denmark, the Netherlands, Singapore, and South Korea. Guttmacher cites other countries as evidence of the opposite relationship, but it is noteworthy that many of those countries already had high abortion rates, often as part of existing coercive government policies…”
“…Abortion industry regulars admit the truth. Guttmacher regularly reports that 55%-60% of women having abortions are on contraception…”
Increased contraceptive use not only leads to more abortions, it also leads to more STDs
“One study, based on Centers for Disease Control data, established clear links between birth control and increases in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).”
From another article entitled: “Sex-Ed Advocates Ignore the Relationship between Birth Control, Abortion and STDs”
“Although condoms are touted as effective protection against STDs, they have only a 50% rate of effectiveness for preventing gonorrhea and syphilis and have not been demonstrated to provide any protection against Chlamydia.”
Or, maybe you missed the 2013 article in the SF Gate titled “Condoms not effective against HPV or Herpes”. Yup, go read it for yourself and fact check.
ace • Aug 11, 2015 at 1:34 am
This from the Daily Signal:
“…According to the Charlotte Lozier Institute, there are over 9,000 federally qualified health centers operating around the country. Each year they provide 21.1 million Americans, in both rural and urban areas, with many of the same health services, with the exception of abortion, Planned Parenthood claims it provides. By comparison, Planned Parenthood operates only 700 centers and serves only 2.8 million people.
And for the record, Planned Parenthood does not have a license to perform mammograms at any of its facilities. Not one. But that doesn’t mean American women have nowhere to turn—according to the Food and Drug Administration, there are over 8,000 licensed mammogram facilities operating across the country as of July 2015…”
Planned Parenthood gave over $675,000 in 2014, of its campaign contributions to Democrats.
From NPR:
“…Efforts to strip Planned Parenthood of public dollars go back decades, as Kaiser Health News’ Julie Rovner wrote recently. The most recent attempt, known as S. 1881, would have stripped Planned Parenthood of federal funding and made it “available to other eligible entities to provide women’s health care services.” Senate Democrats, however, successfully blocked that bill this week…”
“.. [PP’s] 3 percent statistic has many critics, who point out, for example, that it doesn’t explain how much of Planned Parenthood’s revenue comes from abortion. Others note that the figure counts services provided, not patients served — and some patients receive more than one service from the organization. That means more than 3 percent of patients receive abortions (Politifact this week estimated the figure at around 12 percent, for example)…”
Nothing new here: PP and the Democratic party are hand in glove. Abortions are PP biggest money maker. Go look up management staff’s salaries and reflect on the amount of their contributions to the political party who keeps them in business. Thankfully, their are states who are taking the lead in cutting off state funds to PP.
tom444 • Aug 5, 2015 at 5:58 pm
5 honest elements you forgot to include: 1) Most people in the USA took Sex-Ed in middle-school from a regular teacher without any involvement by PP. 2) Defunding PP does not mean anyone anywhere is denied access to birth control. It’s available almost everywhere… from the 24hr grocery store down the street, or at the gas station half way down the street. Certainly you aren’t referring to abortions as birth-control in the context of the 3.7 million women you mention, but if you are, then they can go to nearby hospital and get one in a safe environment instead of at a clinic with no hospital admittance priority. 3) Defunding PP does not mean women are not “empowered” to murder their baby — it just means I won’t be paying for it. 4) It’s true that PP offers performs services other than abortions – and they are free to continue offering them without taking my tax dollar. If for some reason they choose not to, then all women affected can go somewhere else. PP provides nothing unique. And the one great thing about Obamacare is that those women that for some reason prefer going to PP now have no reason to go somewhere else. 5) You repeat the “3% of services” statistic and hope nobody looks at how that is counted. If they hand out 97 condoms and perform 3 abortions, do you really consider that a meaningful statistic? To continue, according to factcheck.com stats from 2011, PP performed 332,278 abortions — roughly 1,000 per day. Yet you call that “rare”. It is a shame that democrats give such little value to life that they voted to keep funding the murderers, but I suppose they need PPs campaign donations with an election coming up. Sad.
lynshr1 . • Aug 7, 2015 at 4:11 pm
ok, here we go..1)”Most people in the USA took Sex-Ed in middle-school from a regular teacher without any involvement by PP”- stupidly random statement, cite a source. 2) When the author writes about women losing access to birth control, that birth control is a medication or a birth control imlant, not free condoms. 3) If you believe abortions are murder, that is nothing more than your opinion. Nothing. 4) If Planned Parenthood should close, and in you’re opinion “PP provides nothing unique.”, where could millions of women and men go to find the same services in the same safe, caring, nonjudgmental, environment? You seem to be sure there are clinics like this everywhere, cite a source. 5) 3% of all services, if you honestly believe – 97 condoms plus 3 abortions equals 100% of services…my god!! That is NOT how stats are collected or used!!
Huizengard • Oct 12, 2015 at 2:52 am
“If you believe abortions are murder, that is nothing more than your opinion. Nothing.”
What would you call abortion? Survival of the fittest? Better them than me? A right, perhaps?
Even if it is a right, it’s a right to WHAT? Isn’t the point of being a parent GIVING UP your freedoms and comforts for the sake of your kids? Doesn’t parenthood involve SELFLESSNESS?
“I have the right to take the life of a child. After all, it’s convenient.” That’s got a nice ring to it.
lovethyneighbor • Oct 12, 2015 at 9:19 am
I would call an abortion a choice that every woman should have.
I would also call you a little naïve. The “comforts” of the parent will be delivered on the child. You have no idea what you cost, and yes that is something adults have to think about. It doesn’t matter whether you think that’s abhorrent or not.
And DO NOT falsely quote me.