A closer look at the attack on Planned Parenthood
MELODY STAINBROOK: “Planned Parenthood isn’t purely a ‘health care provider’ any more than a heroin dealer is a community pharmacist.” These are the words of former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, spoken during a 2015 interview with Breitbart News. Huckabee’s disapproval for Planned Parenthood is clear, but the statement itself speaks volumes about the baseless conservative accusations the organization has received.
Not only has Planned Parenthood been criticized for providing safe abortions for its patients, but its legitimacy as a health care provider has been heavily questioned by the right. Planned Parenthood has been at the receiving end of harsh labels, such as Huckabee’s comparison of the organization to a “heroin dealer”, or Donald Trump’s label of Planned Parenthood as “an abortion factory.” These labels seek to diminish what, at its absolute core, Planned Parenthood is: a legitimate and essential health care provider for millions of patients.
Planned Parenthood’s purpose is best summarized by its mission statement, “The mission of Planned Parenthood is to provide comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual.” The organization provides care to over 2.4 million patients, many of which are low-income patients who depend on their essential services. STI testing and treatments account for half of the services provided by Planned Parenthood, followed by access to affordable birth control, cancer screenings, and wellness checks. In fact, abortions made up only 4% of Planned Parenthoods provided services in 2019.
Nonetheless, Planned Parenthood remains at the center of debate, especially among members of Congress. Several bills have been proposed to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and some go a step further, demanding that the organization return funding it has already received from the government. The Trump administration actively supports these attempts to cut funding for the organization, trying to push Planned Parenthood out of the Title X program for affordable birth control.
The first, and most prominent of these Congressional attacks on Planned Parenthood is “H.R. 369: Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2019,” a bill proposed in the House by Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri. This bill aims at greatly restricting funds for Planned Parenthood by implementing a one-year defunding of the organization or any of its affiliates or clinics. The affiliates and clinics can be exempt from this defunding if they certify that they will not perform any abortions during the one-year time period and won’t provide any funds to clinics that do. This bill, if implemented, would hold federal money hostage from Planned Parent unless they agreed to not perform abortions for a year, the only exceptions being if the woman is at risk to lose her life as a result of pregnancy or if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. Support for this bill runs strictly along partisan lines, the bill has 127 Republican cosponsors and no Democrat cosponsors.
Another bill attacking Planned Parenthood is, “H.R. 7802: To require the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and any affiliates to return amounts received under the paycheck protection program, and for other purposes.” This bill mandates that Planned Parenthood return the $80 million dollars it received from the COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program and is sponsored by Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko of Arizona. The bill claims that these loans were to be given to small businesses and asserts that Planned Parenthood is not a small business and therefore must return the money it received. However, the Planned Parenthood Foundation did not receive or even apply for the $80 million. Individual affiliates of Planned Parenthood requested the money for their own clinics, which are independent from Planned Parenthood. Although these clinics coordinate with Planned Parenthood, they are ultimately separate from the foundation and therefore qualify for the COVID-19 relief money.
These bills, along with many others that are aimed at undercutting Planned Parenthood, could have serious implications for women’s reproductive health. In 2019, Planned Parenthood provided 9.8 million services including 2,556,431 contraceptive services, 771,571 HIV tests, 520,710 breast exams and pap tests, and 345,672 safe abortion services. In addition to this, Planned Parenthood diagnosed 240,384 STIs, detected 70,032 cancer diagnoses, and prevented an estimated 393,300 unwanted pregnancies with their contraceptive services. Federal funding cuts of Planned Parenthood would put these essential services at risk of termination.
Planned Parenthood federal funding cuts will disproportionately affect low-income women, who depend on the services that Planned Parenthood provides. Women in more than 20% of the counties in which they operate, depend entirely on Planned Parenthood services — there are no other healthcare providers who serve low-income patients with these publicly funded services. Attacks on Planned Parenthood only further exacerbate the disparity in health care access between high and low-income populations.
Planned Parenthood conducts important research on topics such as contraception, STIs, and abortions. The organization and its affiliates participated in more than 60 medical research studies and published 31 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Planned Parenthood federal funding cuts will hinder the organization’s ability to conduct meaningful research with far-reaching implications.
Take Action
To voice your concern, call your representative and senators. Find out who your representative or senators are by following the respective links.
If you want to call but aren’t sure exactly what to say, try the following:
“Hello this is (your name) I am calling from (town and zip code), to express concern about the systematic defunding of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is an important resource for women all over the country and provides resources such as cancer screenings, STD testing, safe abortions, wellness checks, and birth control. I urge you to recognize the importance of affordable reproductive healthcare for low-income women. Thank you.”
Call the sponsors of both bills to express your concerns. You can call Rep. Vicky Hartzler at (202) 225-2876 and Rep. Debbie Lesko at (202) 225-4576. You can track and research both bills at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/
Melody is a freshman in Georgetown College, studying government and environmental studies. She enjoys creative writing, swimming, and teaching water aerobics classes in her hometown of DuBois, Pennsylvania. Melody joined On the Record as a columnist and is also a member of the GU Democrats and GU Moot Court.