Planned Parenthood Pros And Cons

Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that is government funded and offers free health care, sex education, and family planning to millions of women all over the country. (“Who We Are”) The organization was founded by Margaret Sanger in the 1960’s. Her mission was to provide free health care to women all across the nation despite their race, ethnic background, income, etc. She also vowed to educate and care for women’s sexual health while maintaining their privacy. As of late, Planned Parenthood has been a target of controversy, with a possibility of being defunded. Why or why not should the government continue to fund this organization?

The controversy of Planned Parenthood has been centered around the organization’s supposed selling

of fetal tissue. There is no real proof of this occurring; only videos and images that could be real or could have been fabricated.

There have been several individuals including patients and former staff that have come forth and shared their experiences at various Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.

A substantial amount of individuals believe that the government should defund Planned Parenthood. The claims made against the organization include; The Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed Barack Obama in his 2012 election as a “champion for women’s health.” Many believe that it was wrong for them to endorse a presidential candidate, because they had only done it three times before. Planned Parenthood is seen as being wealthy; their revenue has gone over their expenses by $90 million. Planned Parenthood has been accused of fraud of over eight million dollars of

taxpayer’s money. They are known as the largest abortion provider in America and have done over 6 million abortions since 1970. Also, Planned Parenthood is not the only place available to receive free healthcare; there are about 1,200 federally funded clinics that women around the United States have access to. In 2014, a video produced by the anti-abortion group, Center for Medical Progress, posing as a fetal tissue procuring company had a 3 hour lunch meeting with the senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Dr. Deborah Nucatola. In this heavily edited, nine minute video, the actors and Dr. Nucatola discuss the type of fetal tissue that is typically the highest in demand. The price of fetal tissue ranges anywhere from $30 to $100, and is based off services alone. They discussed the buying and selling of fetal body parts, which is a felony. During the luncheon, Dr. Nucatola describes the new method of partial birthing abortion, which can help salvage fetal body parts so therefore they don’t have to be crushed to be removed. This act is also a felony. The law states that once the baby is partially born, they are considered a citizen. This means that by continuing to abort the baby, you are then committing homicide. The law states that a baby can be aborted up to 24 weeks, or 6 months into the pregnancy. This is very controversial because of how well developed the fetus is. At 24 weeks the fetus typically weighs a little over a pound, and is about 30 centimeters long. The brain is growing, the taste buds have completely developed, and the fingerprints have formed. The lungs have developed, and are developing the branches of the respiratory tree.
While some believe Planned Parenthood should be defunded, others feel the need for it to continue to be funded by the government.

Planned Parenthood is non-profit and has been around for over fifty years. Planned Parenthood offers many services to women, other than abortions. A few of the services offered to women are free health care, such as anemia testing, cholesterol screening, physical exams for employees and for sports, flu vaccinations, aid in quitting smoking, high blood pressure testing, tetanus vaccinations, and thyroid screening. The many other services they offer include free birth control, emergency contraception, testing for STD’s (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screenings, pelvic exams, free information to women, and a number of other things.(“General Health”) Under the Hyde amendment that passed in 1976, there has been a legislative provision prohibiting the use of certain federal funds to pay for abortion unless the pregnancy arises from incest, rape, or to save the life of the mother. During the fiscal year that ended in June 2014, Planned Parenthood affiliates around the country received $528.4 million in government funds. It has been estimated that 42 percent of their services went towards STD/STI testing and treatment, 34 percent went to contraceptive, 11 percent to women's health services, 9 percent to cancer screenings and prevention, 3 percent to abortion, and 1 percent to other services. This 9 minute video

was edited from a 3 hour lunch. In this time, the Director spoke of costs. The affiliates are non-profit, but you have to hire professionals to handle and ship the fetal tissue. This can cost anywhere from $30 to $100. So, the money that they are charging is trying to offset the costs associated with tissue procurement - a legal service. Our Florida governor, Rick Scott, publicly ordered state health care regulators to thoroughly investigate Florida Planned Parenthood clinics to see if they were breaking the law by mishandling or selling fetal tissue. The AHCA ( American Health Care Association) drafted a statement after their investigation that said, "There is no evidence of the mishandling of fetal remains." (Bonner, Gianna)
The main issue that many people have with this organization is the abortion services. There was a video that surfaced from an anti-abortion activist group accusing Planned Parenthood of "selling baby parts" from the abortions that are done. This video was from a conversation that the Senior Director of Medical Services was having with whom she thought were representatives from a company that provides scientific researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses. Basically, when a woman decides to get an abortion, she is given the option to give the fetal tissue to scientific research. This research has helped in yielding vaccines for chickenpox, rubella, polio, experiments to help cure Parkinson's disease, etc.
Planned Parenthood is government funded and serves a vast number of less-fortunate patients. The group makes up 10 percent of the nation's publicly funded family planning clinics, but it serves 36 percent of the patients who go to these clinics. In 332 of the countries where it operates, Planned Parenthood serves at least half of the clients who rely on the government for income. Basically, if Planned Parenthood were to be defunded, it would also majorly affect minorities and lower class citizens who cannot afford private healthcare.