Student speaks out against defunding Planned Parenthood

Already the federal government prohibits any federal dollars from paying for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.

As Planned Parenthood stares down a future without federal funding, we began to wonder: Could Americans offset that portion of the nonprofit’s budget with donations? When Indiana Republicans imposed health cuts that forced Planned Parenthood to close five of its clinics in the state, none of which offered abortion services, they shut down some of the few places where many people could access services like HIV testing.

“We are encouraged that the Lord has heard our many prayers and we are thankful that no more babies will die in this facility via RU-486”, said Paula Ellefson, local pro-life leader and coordinator of 40 Days for Life in Rochester.

According to Planned Parenthood’s website, around 2.5 million people in the United States visit one of their 650 health care centers annually to receive necessary medical treatment which they often can not afford anywhere else. “We get reimbursed for preventative health care, period, end of story”.

“The reality is, Planned Parenthood does zero mammograms, performs less than two percent of women’s cancer screenings in the US, offers virtually no prenatal care, yet does over a third of the nation’s abortions – 887 abortions every day”, Rose adds. We go for compassionate, affordable, high-quality health care. For many patients, Planned Parenthood is the only health care provider they see. They are LGBTQ people who found in Planned Parenthood the first or only health care provider to treat them with compassion and without judgment.

Planned Parenthood’s problems with federal funding are completely within their power to fix while still providing abortion services (“Maryland Democratic leaders support Planned Parenthood funding bill”, March 8).

Cockrum said the current replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act would be detrimental to women’s health care in Indiana.

Baker last week responded to draft federal health care reform proposals that would defund Planned Parenthood by blocking Medicaid reimbursements for services received by low-income women at clinics by vowing to protect funding in MA. Some are embarrassed, some are ashamed, some had one-night stands they’d rather not tell their primary-care doctor about. “In a state like California with more Planned Parenthoods, the reliance would be that much greater”.

“I’d like us all to come to where we agree”, he said.

The so-called “defunding” of Planned Parenthood would be achieved primarily by blocking low-income Medicaid recipients from using their insurance there.

Although the corporation denies violating any laws, it seems clear that profit is a stronger motivator at the clinics than the medical and human needs of the women that go to them in crisis. Planned Parenthood of the Southern Finger Lakes provides STI tests for over 2,000 patients, pap tests for almost 5,000 women and nearly 3,000 breast and cervical cancer screenings annually.

“Polling shows the majority of Americans oppose public funding for abortion, even those who identify as pro-choice”, he said. The petition is available for signing at http://erlc.com/initiatives/defund-planned-parenthood. The Global Strategy Group survey of 600 likely 2018 voters had a margin of plus or minus 4 percent.