Unraveling the Complexities of Planned Parenthood Funding

Planned Parenthood: Why the Controversy?

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, an organization founded by Margaret Sanger in 1916, receives $500 million in federal funding every year. Mission statement: A reason for being. Planned Parenthood is one of the nation's prominent providers of inexpensive health care for women, men, and young people, and the country’s biggest provider of sex education (“Planned Parenthood at a Glance,” 2014).

Half of Planned Parenthood patients depend on federally funded Medicaid in order to have access to affordable, preventive care. The other half of patients rely on the federally funded Title X. Title X is a family development program that is available to those who do not have insurance or are not covered

Some individuals supported the defunding, expressing that other medical facilities are just as qualified as Planned Parenthood to provide inexpensive health care to those with low income ("No Funding for Planned Parenthood – No Problem”). Furthermore, supporters of defunding believe that one of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are morally wrong, such as abortion, and illegal, such as the selling of fetus body parts (“House Votes to defund Planned Parenthood”). On the other hand, many individuals opposed the defunding by claiming that the government expenditures are beneficial and that without Planned Parenthood the less fortunate, or many other women, would be unable to receive quality health care ("The Economic Case for Planned

That marked the first time in over 40 years that a bill of this kind had made it to the president’s desk and the eighth time in less than a year that Congress has voted to defund the Planned Parenthood organization (“Congress Just Voted to Defund Planned Parenthood for the Eighth Time”). The role of the government is to ensure that no federally funded programs, such as Title X and Medicaid, and in some cases state funds, cover the costs of abortion-related services.

According to Andrea Flynn (2015), Planned Parenthood provides services to more low-income families than any other group, this is an example of the economic concept income gap. An income gap is a gap between the income of one group and other. In the case of Planned Parenthood, the consumers of services offered are the poor and rich. Due to having little to no income, many families rely on insurance from Medicaid or Title X. As a result of Medicaid and Title X covering the costs of services offered through Planned Parenthood, the federal funding creates a moral