BATTLEGROUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD
CONTEXT—Last August, Planned Parenthood pulled out of the Title X funding program, which distributes $260 million in grants for family planning and women’s health. This came after the Trump administration imposed a rule banning all funding recipients from referring women for abortions, limiting which staff members discuss abortions, and requiring all abortion-providing organizations to be separate from those that receive Title X funding. Some believe that this will curb women’s access to family planning services, while the Trump administration sees this as an important step in restricting abortions. Should Planned Parenthood receive federal funding? Planned Parenthood has been a target of the Trump administration as a result of its abortion-providing services. The question is whether the federal government should support an organization that provides abortions. However, Planned Parenthood isn’t just an abortion provider, and losing funding could hurt its patients from accessing reproductive health care, such as cancer screenings and STD screenings. Due to the Hyde Amendment, federal grants already cannot fund abortions in all except the most narrow of circumstances. This new rule won’t reduce abortions—instead it will indirectly affect family planning organizations that may provide or refer women to abortions.Only 3% of the 10.6 million services provided by Planned Parenthoodwere abortions. This rule probably isn’t as direct as many think, and it’s catching up other services in its scope. The other services Planned Parenthood provides are important. Planned Parenthood serves 40% of Title X patients, and 80% of them have an annual income of $18,500 or less. These patients can’t afford the standard cost of the services, and given how many individuals Planned Parenthood serves, many might be out of options if Planned Parenthood becomes more expensive. In Utah, for instance, Planned Parenthood is the only Title X provider, and in Minnesota it serves 90% of Title X patients. The organization announced in both of those states that it would have to start charging fees on previously free services in order to cover the lost funding. Are these services we really want to deprive women of? 42% of services at Planned Parenthood were STD testing. Another 34% were for contraceptives. Are we really going to force women to give up accessible healthcare and family planning over a service that makes up a tiny portion of what Planned Parenthood does? If your position comes from deeply held moral or religious beliefs, I completely understand. But defunding Planned Parenthood is a symptom of the larger problem that the anti-abortion movement has. Say abortion was banned. Would it go away? No. Throughout the 60s and 70s, when abortion was a primarily illegal procedure. Up to 5,000 women die each year as a result of illegal abortions. There will always be women who want to end a pregnancy, and will potentially hurt themselves in doing so. If you really want to eliminate abortions, you need to prevent them from being necessary, meaning no unwanted pregnancies. The traditional method is to tell women to remain abstinent, but let’s be honest, people having sex out of wedlock for as long as we have records to prove it, even in times where getting caught could ruin your life. That’s not going to change. So, instead, you fund Planned Parenthood because this is an organization that provides low-cost contraceptives and sex education to 1.5 million Americans each year. Its practices arethe best way to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S. In the end, funding Planned Parenthood makes total sense for both sides of the issue. It gives poor women the opportunity to avoid the necessity of an abortion in the first place.
AVA SEVERTS 28 | Perspective
Battleground September 4.indd 1
Should we really be using tax-payer money to fund an organization that half of the country fundamentally disagrees with? If you have any regard for popular sovereignty, then the answer is no. Planned Parenthood is a polarizing, political corporation profiting off of abortions and taxpayer money. The government funding Planned Parenthood is a betrayal of its constituents. According to a Gallup poll issued in May of 2019, 49% of Americans identify as Pro-Life. Despite the Hyde Amendment preventing any direct funding to abortions, the federal government paid out a staggering $616 million to Planned DAVID GUST Parenthood. This allows Planned Parenthood to allocate more of their private investments towards abortions, and, in turn, the government indirectly funds these abortions. The government has no right to use hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars to support an organization committed to what half the population sees as murder. I concede there is some good to Planned Parenthood. I understand that, beyond abortion, Planned Parenthood provides essential services such as STI testing, contraceptives, and cancer screenings. I also understand that abortions only account for 4% of the services provided. But abortion is still abortion. Planned Parenthood performed 345,672 abortions in 2018, around 10% of which were after the first trimester; this is utterly unacceptable for an organization funded by tax-payer dollars. Furthermore, Planned Parenthood is a blatantly leftist organization. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, a branch of Planned Parenthood, literally lobbies for “reproductive rights” and greater abortion access. That is like the government funding the National Rifle Association. The website offers calls to action such as “become a defender,” and even devotes a full page of the website to “tracking Trump.” Planned Parenthood endorsed Obama twice, and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Cecille Richards, previous President of Planned Parenthood, even stated “Everything Planned Parenthood has believed in and fought for over the past 100 years is on the ballot,” regarding the 2016 election. That’s odd because I am positive that President Trump is not repealing cancer screenings and STI testing. Planned Parenthood is vehemently committed to protecting and expanding abortion rights, and therefore should not be funded by the federal government. Planned Parenthood doesn’t even need the money. In 2018, they reported $2.2 billion in assets and $1.6 billion in annual revenue. According to the Washington Examiner, then CEO Cecille Richards raked in a whopping $744,833, with other HQ executives averaging $389,514. That’s quite the “non-profit.” Planned Parenthood is a corporation: they provide services, make money, and most definitely don’t need government handouts. As Americans, we need to recognize this as an overextension of executive power. Forcing Americans to contribute to a cause they fundamentally disagree with is wrong, and the necessary services can and are provided by other organizations such as Obria, an organization committed to family planning without abortion. Pro-choice and prolife alike, it’s our duty to recognize that a politicized corporation such as Planned Parenthood must be defunded. Illustrations by Audrey Carter
2/24/20 1:44 PM
