By Madeline Zavala ’24
For decades, there has been incredible debate all over the world on whether abortion is the right thing to do or not. Is it better to get an abortion or is it better to keep the fetus? What circumstances can and can’t get someone an abortion? Will concerns of the family’s financial situation or mental health be ignored as long as the fetus is carried to term? Is it more humane to get an abortion or passing laws to ban abortion that leave people hopeless? It’s still the same questions being asked and a conversation that continues being discussed today. Because of this, many have supported the idea of defunding Planned Parenthood in order to prevent abortions, and an attempt to defund the organization will only cause more harm than good.
What does Planned Parenthood have to offer other than abortion procedures? Planned Parenthood stated that not only do they provide abortions but they also have access to insurance, rapid testing for infections and diseases, medication, pap smears and more. “Just in Pennsylvania alone, 90,000 women, men and young people rely on Planned Parenthood for affordable healthcare every year,” Planned Parenthood said. It’s very evident that Planned Parenthood is more than its abortion procedures and the only thing that’ll happen if the organization is defunded is cause problems in society. Planned Parenthood added that defunding their organization will mean less access to birth control, a rise in cancer and infertility, increase in infections and diseases, pregnancy complications and even death related to pregnancies.
The National Partnership for Women and Families gathered statistics and concluded the following: “Planned Parenthood is the only safety-net family planning provider in 21 percent of U.S. counties, and in 68% of counties, it serves at least half of all safety-net family planning patients.” This further proves that defunding Planned Parenthood only causes more harm than good because blocking medicaid enrollees’ access to the organization would have a devastating impact on public health.
Unfortunately, there has been an occasion or two where Planned Parenthood has not received federal funding for approximately a year. The Defunded Planned Parenthood Act, summarized by Congress.Gov, reads the following: “This bill restricts federal funding for Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. or any of its affiliates or clinics for one year. Specifically, it prohibits funding those entities unless they certify that the affiliates and clinics will not perform, and will not provide funds to entities that perform, abortions during that year. If the certification requirement is not met, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture must recoup any federal assistance received by those entities. However, the bill’s funding restriction does not apply to abortions performed in cases of rape or incest or when necessary to resolve a physical condition that endangers a woman’s life. The bill also provides additional funding for community health centers for the one-year period. These funds are subject to the same abortion-related restrictions and exceptions.”
This bill discusses one of many opinions that believe that getting rid of Planned Parenthood’s funding and sending the money to community health centers instead would be the better approach since many community health centers don’t perform abortions, according to a statement Congressman Tom Cole made. “As part of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy services offered in 2013, abortions accounted for a disturbing 94 percent with very few adoption or prenatal care referrals. Those statistics alone are evidence of an organization whose agenda promotes and pushes abortion before—and above—any other more humane alternative,” Cole stated. Cole’s strong opinion on the matter is due to an incident back in 2015 where multiple videos of abortion procedures and the selling of fetal tissue went viral, resulting in Planned Parenthood suing the Center of Medical Progress for breaking multiple laws.
According to Planned Parenthood, the case was ruled in their favor because it was found out that the defendants violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (a federal law that targets organized criminal activity and racketeering, defined by Cornell Law) while engaged in fraud, trespass, breach of contract and illegal secret recording. Planned Parenthood provided what the court ruled which included the following: “The ‘evidence’ defendants actually gathered and then published as a result of the conduct the jury found was illegal did not itself show any illegal conduct by Planned Parenthood or plaintiff affiliates. There is no evidence that any Federal government entity has concluded that any Planned Parenthood affiliate illegally profited from the sale of fetal tissue or altered procedures in violation of federal laws.”
It’s incredibly unfortunate to know that these recordings even happened but during this case, Planned Parenthood stated how they legally donate fetal tissue for scientific research and receive funds as reimbursement, showing that they don’t sell fetal tissue for personal benefit. Endangering Planned Parenthood is therefore totally unnecessary, and won’t result in anything good because people rely on Planned Parenthood for a variety of things, not just abortion.
The defunding of Planned Parenthood is unreasonable because it’s proven to be more than just abortion procedures. Regardless, abortions should be left to the person carrying the fetus, not the public opinion. If someone chooses to abort, whether because they’re financially not ready to bring a child into the world or they got pregnant under forced circumstances, it’s their right to do so. If the government wants to ban abortion, then better plans to support the family and the fetus need to be developed along with easy access to those plans. Other than that, it should always be her body and her choice.
The Raider Press 