Plan Parent-good

On Feb. 23, after making several comments about women “leaving the kitchen” to support him, in an forum at George Mason University, Ohio Gov. John Kasich went on to elaborate on his decision to defund Planned Parenthood. “And at the end of the day, it is about women’s health. I’m for robust funding of women’s health, I’m just not for doing it through Planned Parenthood.”

If the rest of the nation were to follow suit with Gov. Kasich’s decision about 2.1million women would go without birth control; 4.4 million individuals might never be tested for STIs; and 750,000 women would go without breast exams, if these clinics were permanently shut down.

Many would argue that there are enough free clinics to provide care outside of Planned Parenthood. Currently there are approximately 1,007 free healthcare clinics for low-income individuals (including the 700 Planned Parenthood clinics), however most of them cannot provide in-depth health screenings or lab work.

The 2013 census states that women are statistically more likely to live in poverty (15.8 percent) in comparison to men (11.3 percent), and with the average female spending more out of pocket for medical expense ($883) compared to the expense for men ($647), the need for free clinics is at an all time high.

So, it begs the question: Why are so many conservative Americans against the funding of healthcare clinics for low-income women?

There are two main factors for the resistance against healthcare: lack of confidence in the handling of federal funds for overall cost-efficiency and the dismemberment of quality healthcare.

The biggest concern is the source of funding. What are tax-payer dollars really going towards? In early June, a series of videos were released to the public, falsely accusing Planned Parenthood of dismembering infants to sell for profit. While the videos have been proven to be a fraud they have created an irreversible impression of the health clinic. Under U.S Title X, no funding allocated to any healthcare clinic can go towards medical abortions.

The clinics currently receive approximately $528.4 million in government funding, but what several people seem to overlook is that none of the funding will ever contribute the abortions performed by the clinics. Under U.S Title X, government funding is strictly regulated to the financial assistance of contraceptives, family counseling and health screening services.

Private funding is the primary contributor to none Title X procedures such as the abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood. Defunding the clinics will not stop abortions, but it would stop it people getting their health needs met. It would eliminate approximately $5.2million dollars in family planning and adoption services; $475 million in cancer screenings; $1.7billion dollars in contraceptive coverage and $2.2billion in STD screenings and treatment.

While Planned Parenthood may have a bad reputation from pro-life advocates, what many people may over look is the fact that abortions are a very small portion of what the clinic actually does.

The healthcare clinics predominately deal with the testing and treatment of STDs and STIs. Over half of their funding goes directly toward cancer and STD screenings for both men and women. The clinic provides basic healthcare needs to low income women and families, as well as minorities, who would otherwise not have access to this type of healthcare service.

Junior, Taylor McGrath views the healthcare clinics as a necessity for women that cannot otherwise afford family planning.

“Women don’t really have a lot of options when it comes to health and Planned Parenthood is one of the places they can still go. The way I was raised, Planned Parenthood, to my mom, was a place where women that didn’t have any options for progressing with their family could go to get condoms or birth control,” McGrath said.

In addition to treatments, the clinic also provides educational outlets for young adults. Planned Parenthood has trained over 18, 000 high school teachers and staff for sex education course instruction, and as a result, we are seeing the lowest teenage pregnancy statistics in over 20 years.

Other services provided by the clinic include adoption referrals, relationship counseling and family planning and training for expecting parents.