In the past year, the war on women has been amped up as right-wing politicians called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. The frenzy began after an anti-abortion group called The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released several fake videos that they claimed had been filmed secretly inside a Planned Parenthood, showing employees discussing prices for aborted fetal tissue. Even though these videos were shown to have been falsified and heavily edited, the anti-Planned Parenthood train could not be stopped.
Abortions make up about 3 percent of services offered at Planned Parenthood. While Planned Parenthood provides one-third of all abortions in the United States, no abortion service provided by Planned Parenthood can use federal funding. I'm going to repeat that. By law, Title IX funds from the federal government cannot be used for abortions.
Defunding Planned Parenthood isn't all of a sudden taking money away from the non-profit that would otherwise be used to provide abortions, because abortions at Planned Parenthood don't use federal funds. Here's a list of other low cost services Planned Parenthood offers women (and men) that actually do use federal funds (with some colorful commentary):
1. Contraceptives
The non-profit organization provides accessible information on basically everything you need to know about every kind of contraceptive. Information on contraception and affordable birth control methods makes up about 34 percent of Planned Parenthood services, and it is estimated that Planned Parenthood helps prevent around 515,000 pregnancies each year. Since 43 percent of unwanted pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, Planned Parenthood helps prevent more than 221,000 abortions each year.
2. Pregnancy tests
Planned Parenthood, staying true to its name, provides information on the options a person has should they become pregnant.
3. Adequate sex education
Planned Parenthood has excellent resources, both online or at providers, on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies, information about STIs, and information on consent, sexual violence, and healthy relationships. This sex education is queer and transgender inclusive.
4. Sexual assault victim services
According to the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), one in six women will experience sexual violence in her lifetime. Planned Parenthood provides crisis counseling and victim advocacy for victims of sexual assault all across the country.
5. Other educational programs
Educational programs provided by Planned Parenthood include topics such as body image, gender identity, and sexuality.
6. STI testing and information
Planned Parenthood is an exceptional resource for millions of Americans who need accessible and inexpensive STI tests. The website and each provider has information on the symptoms and effects of all STIs. STI tests provided include HIV tests.
7. STI treatment
STI prevention, testing, and treatment make up 41 percent of Planned Parenthood's services, and these have the potential to save thousands of lives nationwide.
8. Screenings for breast, cervical, and ovarian cancer
In 2012, Planned Parenthood provided nearly half a million pap smear tests across the country. Pap smears are extremely important for those who own a cervix and would rather not get cancer.
9. HPV vaccinations
You know all those Gardasil commercials where a lot of really intense young women say "one less" while riding a skateboard or playing basketball? Gardasil is a three part shot that helps prevent the contraction of the four strands of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Planned Parenthood provides low-cost HPV vaccines for those who otherwise might not be able to afford them.
10. Prenatal care
Prenatal care is important for a healthy and successful pregnancy. It includes regular checkups and prenatal testing, starting as soon as you learn of the pregnancy. Pregnancy is expensive, with the average prenatal cost being around $2,000. Planned Parenthood provides affordable prenatal care to mothers who otherwise would not necessarily be able to afford a pregnancy.
11. Gynecological and pelvic exams
Those with female reproductive organs are supposed to go to the gynecologist and have a pelvic exam at least once a year. Luckily, Planned Parenthood is an affordable provider of pelvic exams!
12. Information about the female reproductive system
A.k.a. "what the hell is up with fallopian tubes and also why am I bleeding?" Basically, Planned Parenthood provides information how to have a healthy vagina.
So, let's stop pretending that labeling all the sh*t half of the government is trying to pull as "the war on women" is a dramatization. When I hear male politicians haphazardly proclaim that Planned Parenthood is evil and that they fully intend to do everything they can to defund it, I do feel victimized. In a country where full gender equality is a long ways away, having a resource I can go to and depend on is vital. The idea of not having Planned Parenthood's resources, support, and services once I leave the protective bubble that is my university health services honestly terrifies me.
Trying to defund Planned Parenthood is blatant misogyny and a huge step backwards for this country. So let's all take a pledge: I pledge to do my very best to not make being a woman and/or having a vagina in the United States more terrible than it already is. I'm looking at you, old white dudes in the senate, who don't have breasts, cervices, ovaries, vaginas, or uteri and will never get pregnant. We get it. Being white and male already gives you, like, 27 and a half more advantages than everyone else.
But how about you chill and stop making everything terrible because my uterus, my birth control, my STI prevention information and my consent and sex education information don't appreciate you sticking your wrinkly, greasy nose in my basic female health care and having stupid, unwarranted and irrelevant opinions? I know not getting to add your 50 cent words into every conversation you happen upon is unfamiliar, but you don't get to have an opinion on what resources and services I do or do not need if all you have to worry about is, "Man, I hope my 600 year old dong can perform tonight." I'm not trying to take away your Viagra, so stop trying to take away things that are WAY more important than Viagra.
