The issue on reproductive rights is a touchy one, and understandably so. Jennifer Hamady, writer for Psychology Toda y, states, “The sharp divide on the issue of abortion leads many to stand against and even up to organizations like Planned Parenthood that make this service available to women. Yet villainizing the entire organization is a mistake. It ignores–and dismisses–the services Planned Parenthood provides that we do agree are crucial and important to the health of all women and children.”
With the 2016 election coming up with the issue of continuing to fund or defund Planned Parenthood has come up in many of the debates. Candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have publicly said they will continue to fund Planned Parenthood if they President.
On the other hand, not a single Republican Candidate running for President has publicly supported Planned Parenthood. In fact, they have all spoken highly against the organization and stated if they become President they will be defunding Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood is more than just abortions. Regardless of your stance on abortions, you cannot deny this organization is essential to not only women’s health care, but everyone’s health care. Families USA states how this organization is shown to provide health care services to 2.7 million women, men and young people nationwide. A large portion of these individuals are from low-income families. Many of these people, without Planned Parenthood, would not have received the reproductive health care they needed to receive. Statistics show that one in five women have chosen Planned Parenthood for health care at least once in their life.
Primary Source of Health Care
A Guttmacher Institute has found that among women who receive care from Planned Parenthood, four out of 10 report that this is their only source of health care. As reiterated, Planned Parenthood is more than just abortions. In fact, out of all the services this organization provides only three percent of those who took advantage of their services took part in their abortion services.
Some other services this organization provides includes:
- STI/STD Testing and Treatment
- Contraception (which ranges from emergency contraception to female or male sterilization procedures)
- Cancer Screening and Prevention
- Pregnancy Tests
- Prenatal Services
- Adoption Referrals to Adoption Agencies
- Counseling
Fundamental Role in Eliminating Health Disparities
Besides providing adequate care to low-income individuals, Planned Parenthood helps provide adequate care to women of color. In 2013, 22 percent of the patients served by this organization were Latino and 14 percent of the patients were African-Americans. These two minority groups suffer from multiple health disparities in our general health care system. This includes disparities related to breast and cervical cancer. For example, cervical cancer, one of the most preventable cancers, affects 2,000 black women annually. Out of those 2,000 over 40 percent will die. Out of their white counterparts, a white women’s survival rate is 75 percent.
Educating
On their website, Planned Parenthood is filled with articles, quizzes and games which are meant to educate on safe sex, STI’s, STD’s, pregnancy and how our bodies change as we grow. If adolescents receive any type of sex education in our school systems or at home, it is a great majority of the time an abstinence free type of sex education. This means they are taught “just don’t have sex.” This type of sex education is not always effective. If adolescents were to receive a type of sex education that teaches them the way Planned Parenthood informs young people, teen pregnancy rates would reduce nationwide.
Researchers at the University of Washington conducted a study in 2008 that wanted to compare the different types of sex education with pregnancy rates. Some key findings the researchers found were that young people who have received adequate sex education (not just abstinence free type sex education) were significantly less likely to report teen pregnancy compared to those who had not received adequate sex education.
Overall, Planned Parenthood plays a key role in our health care system. It would be sad to see such an essential organization be defunded due to the fact some facilities provide abortions. Because, in reality, Planned Parenthood is much more than that.
