The Panther Newspaper: Please don’t defund my reproductive rights
Every year, 2.7 million men and women visit Planned Parenthood to receive reproductive healthcare services and information. But the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of limiting the availability of these services on Friday, after making efforts to freeze the non-profit organization’s funding for one year.
Many of the representatives who approved this legislation referenced highly controversial videos presented by the Center for Medical Progress, which accuse Planned Parenthood of selling body parts from aborted babies.
Officials from Planned Parenthood stated that only two clinics in the country deal with fetal tissue donations, which are used to further stem cell research. The only money that’s exchanged is to reimburse the company for preserving and transporting each specimen, which equates to a maximum of $100.
It should be noted that the sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal offense punishable by a $500,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. If these videos could truly serve as incriminating evidence against Planned Parenthood, the organization would be persecuted and not simply defunded.
The reality is that abortions make up just 3 percent of the services that Planned Parenthood provides, according to the organization’s most recent annual report. The larger percentage of its services are testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (42 percent), contraceptive (34 percent) and cancer screenings (9 percent).
Is the House of Representatives considering the 4.5 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections that Planned Parenthood administers every year? Or the 516,000 unintentional pregnancies they prevent? Or the 400,000 Pap tests and 500,000 breast exams given to help detect cancer? Comparatively, 327,000 abortions were performed by Planned Parenthood last year. By taking away Planned Parenthood’s funding, these representatives are trying to eradicate abortions without examining the greater effect of their decisions.
By defunding Planned Parenthood, partisan interests attempt to slyly undermine every woman’s right to choose what happens within her own body. The ability for a woman to have an abortion shouldn’t be taken away at the expense of her ability to receive sex education and birth control. A lack of the latter two is what leads to unwanted pregnancies in the first place, and taking our access to all of that away will only hurt our society.
Thankfully, the bill is expected to be blocked once it reaches the Senate because of the high volume of Democrats who are against it, and President Barack Obama has said that he will veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. Even so, I’m frightened that those who are advocating to take away my reproductive rights could still win the fight for my freedom.
Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
