Planned Parenthood Analysis

Planned Parenthood is an Essential Part of Health Care for Young Adults
“Abortions represent 3% of total services provided by Planned Parenthood” (Robertson). Yet why is there such a huge controversy over the need to defund this corporation that provides health care to thousands of young adults around the nation? There are many arguments as to why Planned Parenthood should be defunded, including the claim that, “Planned Parenthood is illegally trafficking human body parts” (Roys). Despite the repeated blows towards this health institution, there are also justifiable reasons as to why Planned Parenthood is a beneficial establishment for young adults searching for affordable health care. Furthermore, there are also numerous religious groups
that support the efforts of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood should not be defunded because it is a helpful establishment that provides healthcare to thousands of adults around the nation.
Specifically, in 2013, Planned Parenthood provided services to 2.7 million patients. Of which included prenatal care, which was administered to over 18,684 people (Goldschmidt). The various types of services that are provided consist of sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, contraception, cancer screening and prevention, including the least provided service by the health institution of which were abortions (Robertson). Although many people may not agree with the idea of abortion or the actual process of it, without Planned Parenthood there would be drastic consequences from removing this health care option. Granted there are equal arguments for both sides debating over whether Planned Parenthood should be defunded, I believe that this health institution is more beneficial than harmful. After Sanger established Planned Parenthood in 1916, the nonprofit organization has been providing
affordable health care to thousands of women since then (History and Successes). With just a quick glance on the internet searching Planned Parenthood, thousands of websites pull up a multitude of information about how this organization covers up sexual abuse, or how it is morally wrong to fund this type of company. As I began researching the viewpoints of pro-life protestors and their arguments, one of the main controversies was that Planned Parenthood was illegally trafficking human body parts. There was supposedly a secretly recorded undercover video across the internet that show the Planned Parenthood executive “picking through body parts from a first trimester abortion and discussing prices with a buyer” (Roys). It is understandable that illegally selling human body parts is a major key in the protesting against Planned Parenthood; however it is well known that there are excellent video editors that could have altered the actual footage of the video. From the protestors viewpoints there are a variety of stands that could be taken to justify why Planned Parenthood should be defunded. There are many different attacks against Planned Parenthood trying to end its existence, of which include falsified videos, defunding and the Trap Laws. The Trap Laws are an “attempt to run doctors out of practice and make abortion care more expensive and difficult to obtain.” There are several different types of regulations made by the laws including limiting the provision of care strictly to physicians, making it required for providers to obtain admitting privileges and forcing the facilities to have a transfer agreement with a local hospital (Targeted Regulation). There are several different benefits that Planned Parenthood provides to young adults across the nation.
Which out of these services, only three percent were from providing abortions. The majority of Planned Parenthood funding helps with testing and treating sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and the other main use of funding goes to providing contraception to those who are sexually active (Robertson). Henceforth comes the question, if the majority of Planned Parenthood services don’t provide abortions, then why is there such an immense outrage against this health care provider? Another point of interest is that Planned Parenthood cannot legally use the federal government’s funding to pay for abortions. (Robertson) If this is the case, then the outraged protestors should not be worried about the government spending all of its income to just throw away for an abortion. There are several more beneficial aspects from Planned Parenthood, but these are just a summary of the main
points. The religious March for Life rally that protests abortions and prochoice supporters makes it believable that all religions are against abortions and Planned Parenthood clinics. However, there have been a numerous amount of religious groups that sent a letter to “the Senate voicing their support for Planned Parenthood and urging them to reject efforts to defund the organization” (Miller). These religious groups included Catholics for Choice, National Council of Jewish Women, Methodist Federation for Social Action and a variety of other groups. With one of the members, Rev. Debra Haffner arguing, “Playing politics to restrict or deny access to family planning services is morally wrong” (Miller). Despite certain religious groups having extreme thoughts to ending Planned Parenthood, there are also some other groups of religion that support the efforts of Planned Parenthood. With religion in consideration, Planned Parenthood recorded that by 1970, two thirds of all Catholic women were using contraceptives (Berg). In 2011, Planned Parenthood provided around 11.4 million total services for adults (Robertson). Without Planned Parenthood being around, these individuals could have gone without help or been forced to pay an excessive amount for the health care from a different service provider. Despite the controversy over Planned Parenthood being an abortion providing organization, a very small number of the services provided are actually abortions. One of the main health care options given is different forms of birth control. Planned Parenthood recorded in 2014 that 99 percent of women who were sexually active had reported using one form of birth control throughout their life. From 1988 to 2010, with the use of birth control, the teen abortion rate dropped 66 percent (Berg). This statistic brings the question, if Planned Parenthood is providing birth control to sexually active women, which in turn declines the rate of abortions given, why do people want to bring an end to this nonprofit organization? Overall, despite the arguments and opposing views, everyone can agree that Planned Parenthood helps many women around the nation. Despite both opposing sides, one statement that both parties can agree on is that Planned Parenthood provides a numerous amount of health services for women around the nation. The subject of Planned Parenthood being defunded is an important issue to be aware of because it is an ongoing debate that will affect thousands of women in the future if it is passed. If Planned Parenthood were to be completely defunded and eventually removed overall, a multitude of women across the United States would have to go without health care leaving devastating results from the women who were left to find another health facility that would cover them. The other arguing side, Planned Parenthood shouldn’t be defunded has countless reasons as to why it is beneficial. Ranging from the variety of services it provides to the numerous amounts of women its services cater to. Planned Parenthood is a major source for women to go to for help when many other health facilities will not accept them. There are many radical groups with their views on this subject whether it being why Planned Parenthood should be defunded and removed, or the contrary view, that Planned Parenthood needs to continue being funded because of what it provides to women. There is also a numerous amount of religious groups that favor either side of the debate. Some of these groups include the Pro-Life March for Life, and then the Catholics for Choice. Planned Parenthood has been around for many years providing contraception to women for over 100 years. Birth control is another touchy issue because many people believe that it should not be available unless that woman falls within a certain category. Yet without birth control, there would be a significant increase in abortions due to lack of contraception. If Planned Parenthood eventually is defunded throughout the entire nation, there will be severe consequences dealing with the health of women.