Hurry and stock up on all the free birth control and condoms you can at Planned Parenthood, because you may not have the chance to protect yourself for very much longer.
On Feb. 18, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end federal funding to Planned Parenthood. The vote still has to head to the Senate and then to the president. If passed, this bill would take away roughly $330 million through the end of September for things like contraception and screenings for certain cancers.
Protestors from around the country believe that Planned Parenthood deserves to lose its funding because of the procedures it offers, but many people don’t realize the positive things Planned Parenthood does. Planned Parenthood offers birth control, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, advice on relationships, general health care and many other services. If its funding is cut, many people without health insurance could not afford to see a doctor.
Even though the teen birth rate is at an all-time low, that number is still 400,000 every year. TV shows that promote teen pregnancy, such as “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom,” aren’t scaring teens out of having sex. If the funding to Planned Parenthood is cut, that number of pregnancies will go up. It’s not as easy as telling kids to not have sex. Teens are going to have sex, so why not have them protected?
One reason that many people believe that the funding should be cut is because of abortions, but what many don’t know is that Planned Parenthood is already prevented from using federal funding for abortions. And while yes, some Planned Parenthood facilities do offer abortions, not including the one in Marquette, that only makes up about three percent of all the services they do.
Sexual health is essential to a healthy life, and Planned Parenthood ensures that whoever walks through its doors gets the information they want or need. According to its website, Planned Parenthood delivers “comprehensive and medically accurate information that empowers women, men, teens and families to make informed choices and lead healthy lives.”
Taxpayers also believe that funding should be cut don’t want their money to go to things that promote teens and others to have sex, but it is a lot cheaper to hand out a few condoms or a pack of birth control than to have their money go to the birth of a child, which, in case you didn’t know, is a heck of a lot more expensive than a rubber. The average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 is $200,000. Shocking, I know, but that’s where your tax money could go when people aren’t able to get birth control: WIC and Medicaid.
If you don’t believe in birth control, or screening for STIs, that is your prerogative, but why does it bother you if someone else believes those things are essential to a healthy life? You make your own decision, let others make theirs.
Didaskalos • Apr 12, 2011 at 5:43 am
For an organization that’s constantly clamoring for government handouts, Planned Parenthod seems to find a lot of money to lavish on politicians . . . the politicians who will keep sending taxpayer monies its way.
“…Planned Parenthood points out that most of its services do not involve abortion, but this misses the point. First, if Planned Parenthood didn’t provide abortions, there would be very little energy to strip its funding. Second, almost all of its services for pregnant women are abortions, according to its own fact sheet published last month: It performed 332,278 abortions in 2009, while serving 7,021 prenatal clients and referring 977 parents to adoption services.
“Liberals argue that Planned Parenthood’s federal funding — a bit more than a third of its billion-dollar budget — does not fund its abortions, but only pays for other worthy services. But that’s like the notorious gambler who asks you for money to feed his family. If you decline on the grounds that he’ll just gamble the money away, he retorts, “No, man, I’ve already got my gambling money — it’s the food money I need.”
“Planned Parenthood already has its aborting money, it’s the HIV test money it needs from the taxpayers.
“Don’t forget the politics. Democrats benefited from more than a million dollars in political spending by Planned Parenthood and its political action committee in the 2010 election, with most of that being independent expenditures. The group’s lobbying tab was $700,000 in 2010, down from $1 million in 2008.
“Federal subsidies allow Planned Parenthood to use the money it raises not only for more abortions, but also to support Democratic politicians and their agenda. Democrats and Planned Parenthood fund one another. It’s hard to get more cozy.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/04/democrats-will-yield-everything-abortion
veronica • Apr 10, 2011 at 5:25 am
To cut their funding means that they will have to raise the prices. Which means the already uninsured person has to pay more out of pocket. I use Planned Parenthood for annuals, and normal checkups. The cost of my visit compares from btwn 100-200 at PP vs atleast 1k at the ER (which ive to do as well) and forget a reg OB GYN. Whereas, they may offer other services that are debatable the fact is that they are affordable for those who need them.
maryhouck • Apr 10, 2011 at 1:44 am
I dont feel like i should be forced to have health insurance, I think everyone would like to have health insurance if they could afford it. If you need affordable health insurance search online “Penny Health Insurance” or you dont want to be with out insurance any time.
Kelsey • Apr 9, 2011 at 7:34 pm
The major point that Planned Parenthood’s supporters are missing is that the amount of funding for women’s healthcare services DOES NOT CHANGE. Funding isn’t reduced by a penny. All that happens is that Planned Parenthood becomes ineligible for the grants. Any money Planned Parent would have received is simply diverted to other clinics– primarily Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), of which there are several thousand all over the country.
But don’t let the facts get in the way. It’s much more fun to rant about those mean, “anti-women” pro-lifers.
Didaskalos • Apr 9, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Keep Planned Parenthood alive? Yes, just as other non-profits are kept alive: through private donations. If it wants government largesse, the country’s largest purveyor of abortions (332,278 abortions in 2009) should forswear doing abortions, which really make up much more than 3 percent of its services.
**Annual abortions performed at Planned Parenthood: 332,278
[Source: Planned Parenthood 2009 services fact sheet]
**Average cost of abortion: $468
[Source: Guttmacher Institute estimate]
**Total income from abortions: $155,506,104
**Total health center income: $404,900,000
[Source: Planned Parenthood 2009 annual report]
** Percentage of Planned Parenthood health center income that comes directly from aborting unborn children: 38.4%
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/08/opinion-defund-planned-parenthood/ — Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Director and Planned Parenthood of Southeast Texas 2008 Employee of the Year, sheds light on Planned Parenthood’s mendacious accounting and relentless marketing of abortion:
“While Planned Parenthood claims that no taxpayer funds are used to pay for abortions, Johnson says, “As clinic director, I saw how money received by Planned Parenthood affiliate clinics all went into one pot at the end of the day — it isn’t divvied up and directed to specific services.” She points to the cost of hiring an abortionist and supporting staff, their health benefits packages, and malpractice insurance to cover all of them as the type of abortion related expenses that our tax dollars pay for at Planned Parenthood.
“She says that Planned Parenthood deceives the government and the public by the way it reports its services, attempting to make it appear that abortion is a small percentage of its business compared to its other “services.” One visit to PP resulting in 12 packs of birth control is “unbundled” and counted as 12 patient visits or services. “[E]ach patient shows anywhere from five to 20 ‘visits’ per appointment,” Johnson says. Conversely, abortion-related items are “bundled so each appointment shows as one visit” or service, painting a dishonest picture of Planned Parenthood’s business.
“Planned Parenthood’s primary focus is abortion and it is big business. Planned Parenthood established the Consortium of Abortion Providers, “the primary goal of which is to turn every non-abortion Planned Parenthood clinic into an abortion-providing clinic.”