Women’s rights on defense

Ashley Major
Columnist

Planned Parenthood is a national organization that, among other things, provides health care to women in need.

Since its opening in 1916, the organization continues to help a number of women, men and adolescents worldwide–providing more than 5,000,000 with sexual and reproductive health care and education each year.

According to the Planned Parenthood website an estimated 612,000 of unintended pregnancies are averted by Planned Parenthood contraceptive services each year and an estimated 291,000 of abortions are averted by their contraceptive services each year.

In 1970, President Nixon signed Title X, which provides government funding for family-planning organizations like Planned Parenthood. In 1969 Nixon declared his support for family planning as a fix for population growth, saying, “No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.”

Well, times have changed, and a new Republican bill threatens the rights of the American people we once celebrated so passionately.

On Feb. 18, the House of Representatives passed a bill to end all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, leaving millions of American women without adequate care. Those we elected to help our country and our people have shown their true colors. With an attempt to cut corners wherever possible, presumably in order to continue funding our military and political agendas, we have abandoned the people that compose this nation.

While America has never strived to be a socialist country, often valuing enterprise over our neighbor, we have now stripped the very last shred of socialist-like ideals we were once progressing towards. It seems each week another bill is proposed which threatens the demise of yet another nonprofit organization.

The reality of the matter is that those who need it most are the ones paying the price.

Last week Republicans were in the news for their proposition to redefine “rape” as “forcible rape” in a bill that provides state-funded abortions to victims of rape, incest and health risks. The feminist regression continued this week with the bill determined to end the $319 million funding to Title X, the backbone of Planned Parenthood.

While accusations are thrown by Republican representatives and the intentions of Planned Parenthood are unreasonably questioned in the media, we can’t help but wonder, is this truly a debate on the ethical? Or is it a debate on the fiscal? It appears that in a mad frenzy of budget cuts and deficit black holes, someone ought to wear the scarlet letter, and in the case of Planned Parenthood, the witch hunt is on.

U.S. Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana has perhaps become the most radical of this new conservative face, as well as the most vocal about his opinion of the organization. Pence has taken all measures to be sure that funding for Title X is ceased, explaining that Planned Parenthood’s involvement in performing abortions should not be government funded.

It is as if this constant dogma will justify this sudden cut. What Pence is strategically neglecting to point out is that Title X strictly prohibits the use of funds to terminate pregnancies. Instead, under previously-stated circumstances, a victim of rape would need to go through their medical insurance company to seek compensated abortions, otherwise abortions would be paid for out-of-pocket. Planned Parenthood solely provides as guidance, and some Planned Parenthood clinics perform the procedure in a safe and comfortable environment.

What I find so appalling surrounding this matter are the contradictions Republicans tend to make in regards to policies and their accusations. A party so determined to protect the life of an unborn child is likewise the last party that a young, struggling mother can count on for support to lead her and her child through a healthy life.

Planned Parenthood is an institution vital to our progression as a healthy nation, one that values its citizens and likewise recognizes the needs of the American people. By cutting this funding, we are no longer acting as a government but rather a corporation: less overhead, more profit. The inner decay of our nation will not maintain our political and economical strength, but rather hinder it from prosperity.

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