Planned Parenthood could be close to being defunded, and the abortion giant knows it.
After months of claiming that Donald Trump and his supporters would take away “healthcare” from women, the organization is now suddenly claiming that President-Elect Trump’s supporters are against defunding Planned Parenthood. In a piece for Medium, Planned Parenthood’s executive vice president Dawn Laguens says that interviews with 50 voters (yes, you read that correctly: 50) “in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada” have revealed that voters would be “angry” and “disappointed” if legislation defunding Planned Parenthood were signed into law.
Laguens and the Planned Parenthood PR machine are making the rounds, it seems, touting a recent poll that found 48 percent of Trump supporters “backed funding for the cancer screenings, birth control, STD testing and treatment, and other preventive services provided by Planned Parenthood….” This 48 percent opposed to ending Planned Parenthoods federal funding is just barely a plurality. 47 percent favored defunding the abortion organization — even though the poll’s skewed questions claimed that Planned Parenthood “provides some abortion services.” In reality, Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortion provider, committing 323,999 abortions in 2014-15, according to its own annual report. Had the truth about Planned Parenthood’s abortion business model been presented to poll respondents, the number in favor of defunding may have been much greater than 47 percent.
Planned Parenthood emphasizes the legitimate health care services they provide, but those services have decreased over the years, and Planned Parenthood continues to close down its non-abortion healthcare centers. While the organization claims only three percent of its services are abortion, this claim has been debunked:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgqxvaV-8U]
As Live Action News has repeatedly emphasized, Planned Parenthood is not the only place women and their families can access health care services, though Planned Parenthood and its friends continue to deceive.
For example, the 2.5 million customers Planned Parenthood claims to serve is actually a decrease. The abortion giant also only provides a small share of cancer screenings, including 0.97 percent of all Pap Smears and 1.8 percent of all breast exams. As for mammograms, they merely refer for these, providing none, according to the group’s own CEO:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_0-iD-rPk]
There are approximately 665 Planned Parenthood locations, which are vastly outnumbered by the 13,540 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which provide a wide range of comprehensive health services.
While taxpayer dollars are not legally able to go toward Planned Parenthood’s abortion services, with some exceptions, money is fungible. Whatever Planned Parenthood pays for with these funds, money is freed up for abortions.
The Huffington Post, in attempting to defend Planned Parenthood’s funding, included some telling comments. One Trump supporter from Las Vegas said if Trump signs legislation defunding Planned Parenthood, “it’s gonna cause more disruption in our society. If he doesn’t sign it, it’s gonna make a big statement that he’s fighting for the little ones.” The irony here is that Planned Parenthood hardly counts as being part of “the little ones.” It’s a multi-million dollar behemoth. The real “little ones” are the 323,999 babies aborted by Planned Parenthood every year.
But there are many more opinions beyond the small sample Planned Parenthood, a wealthy organization full of political power and prowess, found. For those who are concerned that without Planned Parenthood, women will have less access to contraception, Kelsey Hazzard, president of Secular Pro-Life (and not a Trump supporter) shared with Live Action News an article about the dangers of a “PP monopoly on family planning.” Hazzard promotes the benefits of FQHCs even in this regard, noting:
With so many more locations, FQHCs and health departments are in a better position to help a greater number of people access contraception. But they’ve barely gotten an opportunity to show it, because Planned Parenthood has historically gotten the money, and keeps suing to claim entitlement to FQHC and health department family planning funds.
Hazzard also shared a comment she submitted with regard to a proposed rule from Health and Human Services to keep Planned Parenthood funded against the wishes of many states. Part of her comment mentioned, with original emphasis:
First, by making funding contingent upon which provider is *currently* serving the most individuals, instead of which providers *could* serve the most individuals if given sufficient Title X funding and time, the proposed rule would encourage monopolies and make it next to impossible for new providers to receive funding through the program….
Although I am no longer low-income, I can assure you that during the time I was a student and unemployed, I would not have been caught dead walking into a Planned Parenthood for my gynecological needs. I was fortunate to have adequate care from other sources. All women deserve that, and FQHCs and health departments are in the best position to provide care to women regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.
Media outlets which are friendly to Planned Parenthood, like the Huffington Post, try to put forth these claims of Trump supporters decrying plans to defund Planned Parenthood as news.When asked to respond to the claims from Medium and The Huffington Post, David Bozell, President of ForAmerica, said “I can respond in two words: Fake news.” The real news is that Planned Parenthood ought to be and could be defunded, and that there are people who want that to happen, especially when it is a scandal ridden abortion giant.
On my Facebook page, I asked for thoughts on why Planned Parenthood should be defunded. Several people responded, including some who identify as pro-choice and some who are Trump supporters. Some of the comments I received are listed below:
- “Because there are thousands of Federally Qualified Health Centers that provide all PP provides–and more– without killing babies.“
- “I’m pro choice but I don’t know if the government should fund PP. Why can’t private citizens donate like you do to a nonprofit?“
- “Because the less the government funds, the better! (Also, killing people is bad.)“
- “If Planned Parenthood is as beloved as they want everyone to think they are, they should be able to survive off of their own merit and voluntary donations.“
- “There’s a great need for funding for mobile clinics in rural, impoverished areas all across America; instead of spending millions on an organization that kills, we can use that funding for real health care.“
- “…PP capitalizes on the confusing and often frightening experience of an unexpected pregnancy. It behooves PP to push abortion instead of adoption because they have more to gain. Then women who walk into PP looking for help are reduced to dollar signs, not human beings going through a hard time. If we are going to have abortion in this country, it must not be for profit and must be a considered a last resort.”
- “Because Planned Parenthood is the 1% and we should not be forced to fund a corporation that performs and promotes aggressive violence.“
- “Just because we are poor or uninsured it doesn’t mean we should be forced to go to an abortion provider for our healthcare.”
- With regards to Planned Parenthood’s private donations and false claims about their 3 percent abortion model, “[i]f those numbers are false because they’re liars, they should lose all public funds for misleading the public.”
- “Because women’s health is more than STD screening and birth control, and abortion isn’t healthcare.“
- “The federal government has no constitutional authority to fund a corrupt for-profit organization like Planned Parenthood, because jurisdiction over matters of health, safety, and morals is reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment.“
- “Government shouldn’t fund any private organization regardless of purpose, nor should there be taxpayer subsidies in the form o [sic] favorable treatment (e.g. Non-profit status).“
- “The services they provide, including abortion (fetal homicide), chemical birth control, and controversial sexual education, are morally and ethically objectionable to millions of taxpayers, and condemned as unsafe and faulty by physicians.“
- “Business [sic] that place price tags on human lives, are human slaughterhouses which must be closed in order to promote real and ethic [sic] businesses.“
- “The fact that many American’s [sic] tax dollars go to fund something they may feel morally wrong for is unfair and unjust.“
- “… its string of ethical violations, including Medicaid fraud, proves that Planned Parenthood is a bad deal for the American taxpayer.“
- “… Defunding PP in the US would hopefully send a message to the international contingent that they’re not above the law or the arbiter or women’s lives and health.“
- “I am in favor of defunding PP because abortion (i.e. murdering pre-born children) is not real healthcare.”
- “Cecile Richards’ salary of almost $1 million is high enough.”
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