Why Planned Parenthood Should Be Defunded
Planned Parenthood receives over half a billion dollars per year from the government (Kurtzleben). The debate on whether this should continue is a divisive political topic of our time. Planned Parenthood and its supporters argue that without being funded by American’s taxes, millions of people would lose access to safe, affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, the pro life movement contends that defunding Planned Parenthood is necessary because of three main reasons: Planned Parenthood’s history of racism, promoting and performing an astounding number of abortions, and the lack of safety and integrity exhibited by the organization.
Planned Parenthood’s history of racism begins with their eugenicist founder (Michals). Margaret Sanger was born in 1879, the daughter of a stonemason and a devout Roman Catholic Irishwoman. Her life was shaped by the environment she grew up in, which included the impoverished home she lived in and the early death of her mother. Later in life, she began taking part in women’s labor protests and developed a passion for ending women’s poverty. She maintained that birth control and abortion were the means to reach that goal. Sanger spent time at Ku Klux Klan meetings and her personal convictions were in harmony with the eugenics movement. She believed in using birth control and abortion as tools to acheive desirable characteristics in the people who make up society. In 1916, she founded the organization we know today as Planned Parenthood. The racist roots of Planned Parenthood show through even today. Approximately 79 percent of their surgical abortion clinics can be found within walking distance of minority neighborhoods. The abortion rate for Black women is five times higher than
for white women. In New York City, a Black preborn child is more likely to be aborted than to be born, and Planned Parenthood is doing all they can to remove association with their eugenicist founder (Protecting Black Life). In 2020, Planned Parenthood of New York City removed Margaret Sanger’s name from their local health center (Mumah). From 1916-2015 Planned Parenthood granted the “Margaret Sanger” award to those who they believed contributed greatly to the reproductive rights movement. However, they ceased granting these awards because they desired to destroy the link between them and the disgraced reputation of their founder. Nevertheless, actions speak louder than words, and Planned Parenthood’s actions scream forth an agenda that is steeped in racism.
One of Planned Parenthood’s most frequently used talking points is that only 3 percent of their services they provide are abortions (Planned Parenthood). They claim that their motto is “Care. No matter what.” However, their own annual reports suggest that their objective is “Abortion. No matter what.” In fact, 86 percent of their revenue comes from abortions (C-Span). The healthcare they provide decreases each year, while the number of abortions they perform skyrocket. According to Planned Parenthood’s own report, the quantity of abortions they performed in the 2019-2020 fiscal year was greater than the 2017-2018 fiscal year by over 22,000 (Planned Parenthood Annual Report). Many ex-Planned Parenthood employees testify that they were given abortion quotas. Caroline Strzesynski, a nurse practitioner who worked for 11 years at a Planned Parenthood clinic of Northwest Ohio, left her job once she discovered that her managers were planning on setting abortion quotas for her clinic to meet. When she inquired
about the situation, she was told that “abortion is how we make our money” (Fiano-Chesser). Planned Parenthood’s actions speak louder than words. They hypocritically market abortions to their patients, and our taxes assist them in this endeavour. The government should not be funding an organization that profits off of destroying life.
Moreover, Planned Parenthood exhibits a lack of care and responsibility when it comes to maintaining safe, sterile clinic facilities (Check My Clinic). Planned Parenthood is a health service provider, so you would expect that they would be held to the same inspection standards as other health clinics. However, that is not the case. Many states do not require abortion facilities to be licensed nor inspected. For instance, abortion facilities do not have to be inspected regularly. States that do require inspections often find that multiple regulations have been violated. Failing to sterilize instruments in between patients, filthy examination rooms, failure to discard chemicals properly, and using expired medications are common violations. If even hair salons must comply with certain sanitary regulations, certainly Planned Parenthood clinics should be held to even higher standards. Nevertheless, they are not in favor of more evidence-based regulations despite their claim that their goal is to provide the highest quality
healthcare possible (Planned Parenthood). Again, Planned Parenthood’s own reports prove that they are incompetent, corrupt healthcare providers.
In conclusion, Planned Parenthood should not be funded by American’s taxes because of their apparent racism, profiting off of destroying human life, and lack of care and responsibility to manage their clinics. Psalm 34:14-16 says, “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” God commands us to depart from evil and choose to do right instead. America has been apathetic to the value of preborn children for many years. Defunding Planned Parenthood would be a big step in the right direction to ultimately end abortion. There are an infinite number of ways to use the half billion dollars Planned Parenthood receives each year that would be profitable. Defunding Planned Parenthood would affirm God’s view of human life and display a willingness to care for and value every human being.
Works Cited
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/80/d7/80d7d7c7-977c-4036-9c61-b380
1741b441/190118-annualreport18-p01.pdf
Check My Clinic. https://checkmyclinic.org
C-Span
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4553000/user-clip-abortions-86-government-planned-par
enthood-revenue
Fiano-Chesser, Cassy
https://www.liveaction.org/news/planned-parenthood-staffers-claims-ignoring-health-care
Kurtzleben, Danielle
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/08/05/429641062/fact-check-how-does-p
lanned-parenthood-spend-that-government-money
Michals, Debra
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/margaret-sanger
Mumah, Carrie
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-greater-new-york/about/news/pl
anned-parenthood-of-greater-new-york-announces-intent-to-remove-margaret-sangers-na
me-from-nyc-health-center
Planned Parenthood
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/9313/9611/7194/Planned_Parenthood_By_The_
Numbers.pdf
Planned Parenthood
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/67/30/67305ea1-8da2-4cee-919
1-19228c1d6f70/210219-annual-report-2019-2020-web-final.pdf
Protecting Black Life. https://www.protectingblacklife.org/pp_targets/index.html
Submitted by Abigail Boorujy
1st place winner of 2021 BFLW Essay Contest