The House passed a bill on Friday, September 18th, that will cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood for a year. It is no surprise that conservatives voted to pass this, since Planned Parenthood has been a hotbed for controversy for years, specifically regarding abortions. Luckily, the Democrats in the Senate have successfully voted the bill down, and President Obama has stated he will veto it if it does end up coming to him (DeBonis, Washington Post). The problem with a bill like this being (potentially) passed doesn’t necessarily have to do with abortion- I am not here to give you a lecture on pro-life vs. pro-choice, as you are entitled to your own opinion. However, I am here to tell you that cutting funding Planned Parenthood will have devastating repercussions on the state of women’s health and access to healthcare-and we cannot let this happen.
In the words of Lois Frankel, Democratic representative of Florida, “If you want to have a truthful debate, then let’s talk about the 400,000 Pap smears, the 500,000 breast exams, the 4.5 million STD and HIV tests that Planned Parenthood does each year” (Washington Post). So, let’s talk about it. Abortions only account for 3% of the services Planned Parenthood performs over the course of the year----by cutting funding, yes, you are reducing that statistic down to zero, but you are also even more significantly cutting access to cancer detection, HIV/STD prevention, access to contraception (which would make getting an abortion a non-issue in the first place) and many more health services----all of which are essential amenities that can save the lives of thousands of women. This is where the majority of the money goes. These are the programs the majority of the women need, and use. These are services that many of the women do not have access to without Planned Parenthood, due to little or no other health insurance, low income rates, or any other reason. The lives of these women are valuable and they deserve to have access to the basic health care services that so many of us take for granted.
What people also don’t seem to know or understand is that most federal funding doesn’t even go towards abortion services. Even though Medicaid allows for the use of its funding in cases of rape, danger to the mother’s health, or other urgent circumstances, Title X, the other federal grant Planned Parenthood receives, does not allow the program to subsidize abortions with the money it provides (NPR). Therefore, cutting federal funding will simply decrease the money that goes into the other parts of the program, the ones essential for women’s health in general (Washington Post).
As I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon, the bill has not passed in the Senate. However, it is possible that it will go back for a re-vote, or come back at a later time to a new president who won’t have the common sense to veto it (I’m looking at you Trump). I urge you to educate yourselves on the services Planned Parenthood provides, on the damage it would be doing to women around the world if it were to be defunded. You don’t have to be pro-abortion, but you cannot say you are pro-life if you are not in support of programs that provide services that have, and will continue to, save thousands of women’s lives.
