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Cayley Bridges
Ms. Ingram
UWRT 1103-011
October 22, 2015
Should Planned Parenthood be Defunded?
Recently, Planned Parenthood has been under fire for videos released that
are based around the organizations fetal tissue donation practices. The videos have
caused many politicians and citizens to call for an end to Planned Parenthoods
federal funding of $500 million per year. Looking past the recent controversy,
Planned Parenthood offers many health services to men and women throughout the
United States in their 700 health care centers. 2.7 million women and men visit
Planned Parenthood clinics annually. Planned Parenthood does PAP smears, breast
cancer screening, and STD testing, among many other things (Who We Are).
Planned Parenthood donates fetal tissue and issued a statement about it on
July 14th.
At several of our health centers, we help patients who want to donate
tissue for scientific research, and we do this just like every other highquality health care provider does with full, appropriate consent from
patients and under the highest ethical and legal standards. There is no
financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned
Parenthood. In some instances, actual costs, such as the cost to

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transport tissue to leading research centers, are reimbursed, which is

standard across the medical field. (Planned Parenthood Statement)
Many medical facilities do this and do not come under the same fire as
Planned Parenthood. Whats so different about this? Fetal tissue research can save
lives, and the tissue is only donated with the womans informed consent.
Despite many people who disagree with Planned Parenthood for various
reasons, I think that they provide essential services to people in the United States
and should keep their federal funding indefinitely. When focusing on only the
controversial things Planned Parenthood does, you miss the really good things
theyre doing for people.
There are many reasons why people are against Planned Parenthood, and the
biggest reason is because they are a large abortion provider. The American Life
League is a catholic pro-life organization and they are against abortion. One reason
why theyre against is because it could be dangerous to women, but studies show
that abortion and things like infertility and breast cancer have no connection
(Cohen). On the American Life League website they also cite articles of individual
women who have been injured or killed during an abortion to back up their claim
that abortion is not safe for women, but before abortion was legal many young
women were dying because they did not have access to safe and legal abortions. Dr.
David Grimes, an abortion provider whose been providing abortions since 1972
shares his story of illegal abortions;

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When I was in medical school in North Carolina, I got a page one night
to tend to a patient with a 106 degree fever. I assumed that number was
made in error. It wasnt. When I examined her I found a red rubber
catheter protruding from her cervix. Another day, I was paged for a
young co-ed in septic shock with barely any blood pressure. There was a
fetal foot protruding from her cervix. The first had gotten an illegal
abortion, the second had tried to do it herself. (Ronan)
It is also worth noting that in the state of North Carolina, no women have
been killed by an abortion in decades.
Abortion is something that is and always will be necessary in society. Many
views on women and abortion are guided by religious beliefs. I believe that you
need a secular government to have a truly free and successful state, so that no one
religion can try and influence the entire population. In the nineteenth century,
women were expected to have as many children as possible no matter what health
problems could be imposed by it. Women need adequate access to abortion to make
sure they stay in control of their own reproductive care, which in turn allows them
to be productive members in the economy and society.
After abortion became legal in Roe V. Wade, there has been a huge fight to
limit abortion access and to expand it. Under Title X funding, if a woman wants an
abortion referral, the affiliate must provide it, this is one way abortion access has
been expanded. Many taxpayers do not want their money going to abortion
procedures, just as many people do not want their money going to war. Planned

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Parenthood receives 40% of their funding from taxpayers, and people dont think
they should get any funding at all, because they provide abortions, and are also the
largest abortion provider in the country. Planned Parenthood performs an
estimated 300,000 abortions per year (Hall and Severino). I believe this just furthers
the argument that Planned Parenthood needs federal funding because they make it
possible for women to have access to safe abortions. Without Planned Parenthood, it
would be virtually impossible for many women to get an abortion if they needed
one. Should women die from unsafe and unsanitary abortions, just because you
dont think that your tax dollars should fund it? Should everyone be able to say what
they do and dont want their tax dollars going to? I think if that were the case, many
important social programs would collapse and millions would suffer. As long as
abortion is a legal medical procedure, I think it should be funded for low-income
women.
With the implication of the Hyde amendment, taxpayer funding for abortions
was greatly restricted. Abortion can only be funded by federal dollars in cases of
rape, incest, or in cases where the mothers life is in danger. It does not seem right
that Medicare is allowed to offer comprehensive reproductive healthcare, including
family planning, prenatal care, and services related to childbirth, but is explicitly not
allowed to fund abortion, which is part of family planning and reproductive
healthcare.
Arguments against abortion are not only religiously based, but theyre also
secularly based. Some humanists support the idea of personhood because they
believe that fetuses are human because we all began as fetuses (Roth). Their

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potential is what makes them human. I do not argue whether or not a fetus is truly a
person, but I do argue at what point does a womans rights get superseded for the
rights of a fetus? You cant force someone to donate an organ or to donate blood,
even if their refusal means that someone will die. Corpses even have bodily
autonomy. If you dont sign up to be an organ donor, then after you die, nobody can
legally harvest your organs, even if that means someone else will die. Why is the
case of a woman and a fetus treated so differently?
The American Life League also opposes contraception, citing the religious
belief that a man and a woman need to be open to having children every time they
engage in sexual intercourse (Planned Parenthood). Additionally, most forms of
contraception prevent implantation so an egg can be fertilized and then face its
demise days later because implantation cant happen. In some peoples eyes, this is
seen as just another form of abortion. When thinking about contraception, or birth
control, it is important to note that it is not only used for pregnancy prevention.
I had clusters of ovarian cysts a few years ago that only went away once I was
on birth control. Ovarian cysts can cause many reproductive problems and are
extremely painful when they rupture. A close friend of mine has PCOS, a hormonal
disorder that causes enlarged ovaries, and she needs birth control to keep things
regulated. There are countless women in our situations and this aspect of birth
control cannot be overlooked. Birth control is not only used to prevent pregnancy, it
allows many women to live normal lives, which they otherwise couldnt live.
Planned Parenthood ensures that even low-income women can have access to birth
control.

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Margaret Sanger founded the Birth Control League in 1916, which would
eventually become Planned Parenthood. This organization was founded to give
women more access to birth control, a highly taboo and restricted subject at the
time. Birth control was even limited legally by Comstock laws (Primrose). Planned
Parenthood changed the way birth control was seen, and it allowed women to truly
have control over their own bodies. Planned Parenthood has important beginnings
and it is still important now.
Planned Parenthood is not only important in providing healthcare; they also
play an important role in educating Americans about reproductive and sexual
health. Planned Parenthood is different than many providers of sex education. They
provide comprehensive knowledge, whereas other providers focus on abstinence
only education, which is great, but that means their safety education suffers. Its
known that in states where abstinence only education is required, teen pregnancy
and STD rates are higher. I dont think education about your body should be limited
because of cultural and religious beliefs. In the public education system, I think that
educators should strive for secular education and not let it be swayed by other
beliefs, as not everyone is religious, and not everyone practices the same religion.
When people argue to defund Planned Parenthood, they often bring up
community health centers, and say that they can provide the same care that Planned
Parenthood does. These health centers are not equipped to handle the reproductive
healthcare women need on top of all other primary health services they provide
(Rosenbaum). Virtually none of the community health centers provide abortion

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services. Community health centers are necessary and a very important part of
society but they cant replace Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood needs to keep its funding so that all women can have
access to safe abortion, contraception, and other reproductive healthcare. You can
argue that abortion is immoral and you can argue that birth control is not necessary
but that does not change the facts. Planned Parenthood helps many women have
safe and healthy lives, and I do not think that the government should decide who
gets access. Planned Parenthood needs to keep its funding.

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Works Cited
"Planned Parenthood." American Life League. American Life League, Inc, n.d. Web.
26 Sept. 2015. <http://www.all.org/learn/planned-parenthood/>.
"Public Funding for Abortion." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU Foundation,
n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2015. <https://www.aclu.org/public-funding-abortion>.
"Statement from Planned Parenthood on New Undercover Video." Planned
Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc, 14 July 2015.
Web. 15 Nov. 2015. <https://www.plannedparenthood.org/aboutus/newsroom/press-releases/statement-from-planned-parenthood-on-newundercover-video>.
"Who We Are." Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc,
2014. Web. 26 Sept. 2015. <https://www.plannedparenthood.org/aboutus/who-we-are/>.
Cohen, Susan A. "Abortion and Mental Health: Myths and Realities." Guttmacher
Institute. N.p., 2006. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
<https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/09/3/gpr090308.html>.
Hall, Jamie Bryan, and Roger Severino. "Disentangling the Data on Planned
Parenthood Affiliates' Abortion Services and Receipt of Taxpayer Funding."
The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2015/09/disentangling-thedata-on-planned-parenthood-affiliates-abortion-services-and-receipt-oftaxpayer-funding>.

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Primrose, Sarah. (2012). The Attack on Planned Parenthood: A Historical Analysis.

UCLA Women's Law Journal, 19(2). uclalaw_wlj_17830. Retrieved from:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/38f952g1
Ronan, Alex. "The First Legal Abortion Providers Tell Their Stories." The Cut. New
York Media, LLC, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
<http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/10/first-legal-abortionists-tell-theirstories.html#>.
Rosenbaum, Sara. "Planned Parenthood, Community Health Centers, And Womens
Health: Getting The Facts Right." Web log post. Health Affairs. Project HOPE,
02 Sept. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
<http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2015/09/02/planned-parenthoodcommunity-health-centers-and-womens-health-getting-the-facts-right/>.
Roth, Jennifer. "A Secular Case Against Abortion." The Secular Web. Internet Infidels,
n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
<http://infidels.org/library/modern/debates/secularist/abortion/roth1.ht
ml>.