What would you say to someone who suggested that your
favorite football team should be banned from the league because they don’t
believe in the seriousness of concussions and don’t agree that your team should
have a protocol for dealing with it or taking the doctor’s time in treating
it? That hopefully sounds absurd to you,
even if you are foolish enough to agree with the person’s stance on concussion
science. Well, the president’s recent
bill that took aim at defunding Planned Parenthood is tantamount to agreeing
with your friend, except with much more serious, real-life, consequences. Not only that, but the people it hurts the
most are the working class and lower income Americans that he claims to be
trying to help.
You’re not buying it?
Even the president himself complimented Planned Parenthood and
recognized the immense amount of important work that they do just months
ago. Yet now, because of a personal
belief about a portion of their practice that is ONLY 3% of the services they
provide, which NONE OF THE FUNDING is used for anyway, and is LEGAL, he is potentially
drastically damaging the welfare of millions of Americans. Of course, this president is the same person
who called the NFL ‘soft’ because of their concussion protocol while calling
concussions a ‘little ding to the head’.
So, what should we expect?
It’s important to know what Planned Parenthood does and who
they help. Roughly 5 MILLION people annually
use Planned Parenthood for their sexual and reproductive health care, education,
and outreach. To my point about the bill
hurting certain supporters of the president the most, 83% were 20 years old or older and 80% had incomes at or below 150% of the federal poverty level according
to the most recent data from the Government Accountability Office report released
in 2015. No one would argue the
essential need for sex education for both adolescents and those in impoverished
areas, which is a large component of Planned Parenthood as they provide sex
education to 1.5 million people each
year. 42% of their services, the largest
aspect of the business, go toward sexually transmitted disease screening,
resulting in 4.2 million tests and
treatments in 2014. They also perform 270,000 pap smears, 360,000 breast exams, and participated
in more than 70 research projects
according to the 2014 annual report.
Perhaps more importantly, 26% of Planned Parenthood patients
said that it was the only place they could go for the services they needed according
to a 2016 survey. This is a large number
considering that in 2014, 20.2 million women needed publicly funded family
planning services.
So, let’s get to the crux of the issue, then. Many seem fine with sacrificing all of this
because of their beliefs about a portion of what the group does legally. It shouldn’t be a surprise that it’s not as
cut and dry as those that only look at the surface think. First, let’s tackle contraception. For most, this isn’t that controversial with the
argument against contraception usually coming from a religious angle. Our forefathers were amazingly astute when
they put out the idea of separation of church and state. The concept is applicable here, as they saw
the negative effects that can happen when certain beliefs are used to rule a
diverse population. So, what happens
when the community loses this access?
You can take a look at Texas:
between 2014 and 2015 they saw around 24,000 unplanned births after
funding cuts. The reasons were obvious,
about half of those interviewed said they were unable to access birth control
they wanted to use because of cost, lack of insurance, inability to find a
clinic, and inability to get a prescription.
What’s frustrating is that those fighting for these cuts don’t look to
see the consequences. Just from this one
example, the state and federal taxpayers’ Medicaid costs rise up to $273 million! I also hate it when I hear that these people should
just keep their legs shut if they can’t afford to get pregnant. Yeah, that is easy to say, but everyone knows
that’s not going to happen and undermines attempts to manage the issue to help
our society and economy. I’ve also heard
someone say recently that underprivileged women should have to pay for
all of their birth control and birth care themselves since they just ‘want to waste taxpayers money’. As I just stated, this is backwards as in
reality it SAVES taxpayer money. But,
also, you can’t say that anyone has less of a right to have children. I have close relatives who had kids while on
food stamps. Those kids are now some of
the most intelligent and talented people you’ll find and the family now makes
more money than I do. But, according to
these people, it wasn’t right for them to have their kids!
But, of course, the biggest issue is that of abortion. I’m not going to delve deeply into it here as
this blog would get way too long to give it the detail it deserves. But, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, I
find it disappointing that people are willing to risk all of the positive work
that Planned Parenthood does due to a personal belief on a legal aspect of
their business of which the funding isn’t even used for. Again, when you look at it from all angles, it’s
just not as cut and dry as some want to believe. Do you really think the doctors enjoy
performing this surgery? I recently spoke
with an OB-GYN who detailed some of the horrors they see with patients who have
had illegal abortions. The reasons vary,
but often the life of the woman is at risk.
Without going into the pro-life/pro-choice argument, I’ll just say that
these women are usually going to get them done one way or another by the time
they’ve made that decision. At least
Planned Parenthood educates them, describes in detail their various options,
and performs the surgeries in a safe manner when that is what is decided
upon. You don’t have to approve of the
option to realize that having it offered in this scenario saves lives and large
amounts of taxpayer money. Again, looking
at the reality of the situation: defunding Planned Parenthood would likely lead
to MORE abortions due to the higher number of unintended pregnancies (real-world studies show a 40% reduction in
unintended pregnancies with access to birth control. Two studies showed a 42% and 75% reduction in
abortion rate with access to long-acting birth control), an increase in
STDs (i.e. 150 new cases of HIV reported in
the small town of Austin, IN in 2011 after PP was defunded), an increase in
maternal deaths (pregnancy related deaths
doubled in 2010-2012 in TX after regulations were enforced), an increase in
taxpayer cost (in 2015 the nonpartisan congressional
budget office calculated a $130 million increase
if PP were defunded), and the list goes on and on.
Unbelievably, I still hear people citing falsehoods from the
video that was popularized during the election.
It’s amazing that people will hear what they want to hear, but not
acknowledge when their position was proven false such as when during the
investigation against planned parenthood the organization was cleared but the people
who made the videos were the ones who ended up ultimately charged with crimes!
Yes, I realize it’s a controversial topic that many are
passionate to the point of stubbornness about.
And, yes, there are many angles in which you can look at this issue. In my personal opinion, if you sincerely look
at the full picture and scope of the situation and beyond the aspect that makes
you uncomfortable you will find that the consequences of the president’s bill
allowing the defunding of Planned Parenthood can be damaging to the majority
and devastating to many. We need ‘pragmatic
realists’ who see the world as it is and implement solutions and methods to make
it a better place; not leaders willing to hurt those that need medical help the
most to make a point. The president who
has passed bill after bill to erase regulations meant to combat corruption to
help his wealthy friends has once again passed one that very negatively impacts
those with lower incomes the most. There’s
a reason why he signed this one quietly and without fanfare. He probably listened to powerful and/or wealthy
supporters and even HE likely knew it was not for the greater good. What a guy.
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