Lifestyle
The political war over Planned Parenthood won't end anytime soon
IMAGE: AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
To those who believe abortion should be illegal, there may no greater enemy than Planned Parenthood.
The nationwide network of 700 health centers provide women with essential reproductive medical care, including screenings for cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. But 3% of its services involve abortion care, and that's why the political war over this nonprofit won't end anytime soon.
On Monday afternoon, the Senate debated a controversial bill that would strip Planned Parenthood of its government funding, which totaled $528 million in the last fiscal year — or half of its annual budget.
Most of this money comes from Medicaid, a state and federal health insurance program for low-income people that can be used at Planned Parenthood. The federal government also provides funding to the organization through a family planning program for the poor that subsidizes services like cancer screenings and birth control.
I introduced a bill alongside many of my Senate colleagues to protect women’s health & defund #PlannedParenthood: http://t.co/xtcSyNKyWi
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) July 29, 2015
While it is barred by law from using government funding to pay for abortion services, opponents say that every cent that goes toward keeping a Planned Parenthood clinic open and operational makes taxpayers complicit in abortion.
The bill didn't win the necessary 60 votes required to advance, but the failed proposal is just the latest attempt to cripple Planned Parenthood. The organization performs about one-third of the one million abortions that take place in the U.S. each year, making it the most practical and symbolic target in abortion politics.
Eliminating government funding for Planned Parenthood would no doubt endanger its clinics and would be a tremendous blow to reproductive health and abortion access in the U.S.
This is part of a larger strategy to make abortion impossible to obtain if not illegal.This is part of a larger strategy to make abortion impossible to obtain if not illegal. In the first three months of this year, state legislators introduced more than 300 bills to restrict abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health advocacy organization. Recently, Congressional Republicans proposed gutting the federal family planning program, known as Title X, which 4.6 million poor people rely on to access reproductive health care.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren gave the most impassioned speech on Monday in defense of Planned Parenthood — and the right of women to get the health care they need.
The GOP plan to defund @PPFA is a right-wing attack on women’s rights. Watch why I voted to #StandwithPP: https://t.co/QdJD6dlTum
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 3, 2015
"Women have lived through a world where backward-looking ideologues tried to interfere in basic health decisions, and we’re not going back," she said.
Several Republican senators swore they did not want to deprive women of health care, and instead cast the bill in moral terms.
John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, called the legislation the beginning of a "fight" to restore America's conscience. Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul said that defunding Planned Parenthood would be the work of a "civilized people."
If my colleagues would rather stand with Planned Parenthood than the American people, they'll pay a severe political price. (8/8)
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 3, 2015
This language has gained even greater currency among abortion opponents since an anti-abortion group revealed in July that it had covertly recorded Planned Parenthood officials plainly and sometimes grotesquely discussing collecting fetal organs and tissue for scientific research.
This practice provides research institutions with tissue to develop therapies and treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. It is common for facilities to be reimbursed for the cost associated with donating tissue, including transportation expenses.
But critics say the videotaped discussions of reimbursement rates are evidence that Planned Parenthood is illegally selling fetal remains — an allegation that has not yet been proven.
Planned Parenthood has insisted that while its practitioners were not appropriately sensitive in discussing fetal tissue donation, the organization broke no law. Still, the controversy has presented Planned Parenthood with its toughest political challenge in recent memory.
We won the battle, but the war isn't over: Anti-abortion politicians vowed to do everything in their power to cut patients off from care.
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) August 3, 2015
Some Republicans, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, have called for a government shutdown if Planned Parenthood is not defunded when Congress considers a major spending bill in September. Republicans made the same threat in 2011, and while they didn't succeed, it's clear the organization's opponents will not settle until they can claim the ultimate victory.
Outside of their base, however, these Republicans may not have the public on their side. A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 45% of the respondents rated Planned Parenthood favorably, outranking the National Rifle Association by just a few points. While 30% view the organization unfavorably, that rating is far better than those given to Donald Trump (56%) and the Republican party (44%).
For Planned Parenthood, the political war over its mission is a familiar one.For Planned Parenthood, the political war over its mission is a familiar one.
“There hasn’t been a moment in our history, when we were pushing forward on reproductive health care rights and access for women, that someone wasn’t after us,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, told the New York Times.
This fall the Supreme Court may review legal challenges to legislation that restricts abortion. If it decides to deliberate on one of them, it will most certainly either reaffirm or dismantle the constitutional right to an abortion as set forth by Roe v. Wade. Planned Parenthood will be central to that debate.
And with a presidential election season underway in which abortion promises to play a major role, the battle is really just beginning.
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