Planned Parenthood Controversy Stirs Up College Campuses

By: Lani Panico

In September of 2015, the House of Representatives passed a bill, that would later go into legislation, that would cut off funding from the national reproductive health organization , Planned Parenthood. In January, they voted for an eighth time to defund the family planning provider. These cuts imply that women who use Medicaid and other insurance providers will no longer be able to be reimbursed for their Planned Parenthood visits. It implies that insurance will no longer cover visits to the facility and that women will have to pay out-of-pocket for these reproductive services.

            The House passed this bill to assure that women were not using their government funding to pay for abortions. The House claims that part of their reasoning for defunding Planned Parenthood was because they didn’t want government money to go toward abortions. 

Jennifer Koosed, Professor of Religious Studies at Albright College, replied to that claim. “They do it primarily on the basis of Planned Parenthood providing abortions, even though Planned Parenthood does not use any federal or state monies to provide abortions. All the federal and state monies that they get is to provide other kinds of healthcare services. It’s already illegal for them to use federal or state funds to give abortion services, but that’s still the kind of basis upon which a lot of the calls to defund them are coming. In fact, it’s economically detrimental to defund Planned Parenthood…It’s not economic at all because the economics are quite clear. Unintended pregnancies cost more money, not only to individuals and families, but to society in general. The most cost effective thing we can do as a society is prevent unplanned pregnancies, and the most cost effective way of doing that is simply giving women birth control. And not doing that has cost us way more money. There is no economic argument.”

Another factor that contributed to defunding was the rumor regarding Planned Parenthood selling fetal organs after abortion procedures. The words of a Planned Parenthood director were twisted around to imply this rumor. In fact, fetal tissue is only distributed by request of the patient to benefit the health of others, such as those with Parkinson's. The following video explains this controversy.

Along with these reasons, Representatives also called religion into question to solidify their beliefs that insurance money and the Affordable Care Act should not be used to commit an act such as abortions.

            The defunding of Planned Parenthood added fire to the pro-choice vs. pro-life debate. Religious groups tend to support the decision of the House to prevent abortions. Koosed explains religious standpoints on this issue. “The majority of religious perspectives in this country, both Jewish and Christian, support contraception and abortion and don’t find contraception or abortion to be unethical, and that’s primarily because neither abortion nor contraception is in the Bible. So all positions about abortion and contraception are extra-biblical. As birth control came to be more widely available, the Pope, in 1968, laid out the Church’s official position on contraception. And that’s become the basis for the Catholic position and a particular understanding of the purpose of sex as well of an understanding of something called ensoulment, when the person gets a soul, and from the Catholic perspective, a person has a soul from the moment the sperm hits the egg. And since you have a unique soul, anything you do to prevent the continuing development of it is considered murder.”

            Other groups, such as women who use the services provided by Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice advocates, have stood up against this pro-life movement. Planned Parenthood, while it does provide service for abortions, is one of the only cost-free distributor of condoms, birth control and other reproductive health services such as cancer and sexually transmitted disease screenings. This organization also gives women the opportunity to discuss issues regarding their reproductive health through counseling services. While it does provide abortions, Planned Parenthood as an organization has many other services that women may not be able to receive otherwise.

[The following chart was found online. This chart gathers information regarding Planned Parenthood's services]

            Emily Carey, a student at Albright College, states her belief regarding the defunding of Planned Parenthood. “I was very upset when I found out that Planned Parenthood was defunded because it provides so much reproductive healthcare to families, and especially women, who can’t afford it anywhere else. There are people all over the country who, without Planned Parenthood, wouldn’t have access to birth control and so many other things. A lot of the people who defunded it talked about how abortion is the reason why. But honestly, abortion is just a really small and miniscule amount of what Planned Parenthood does and it provides so much more than just that.”

            Samantha Wesner, Nurse Practitioner at Albright College explains her opinion regarding what the defunding of Planned Parenthood means for women. “Even though the Affordable Care Act is coming into play, there’s still a lot of women who can’t afford healthcare. They can’t afford insurance through the marketplace and there’s a gap of women that don’t have care. So, Planned Parenthood’s funded by Title X funding and they then can provide contraception, sexually transmitted infection testing and annual GYN exams to those women who can’t access care separately.”

[The following chart can be found on Planned Parenthood's web page.]

            The Gable Health Center at Albright College provides some services that Planned Parenthood provides to promote reproductive health in college students. The center provides gynecological exams, birth control pills, condoms and pregnancy tests. Wesner says why she believes it is important to have these services on college campuses. “We’re very lucky at Albright because I’m a woman’s healthcare health practitioner and that’s my specialty. GYN is my specialty. And a lot of college campuses do not offer GYN services, or some offer services sporadically throughout the week. We offer services all week long.”

                        Carey includes her stance on reproductive health on college campuses. “I think it’s really important to have contraception available to students and Albright and just all universities because safe sex is something that is really important and really needs to be discussed more and advertised. Also, birth control isn’t just for sex. Some women use it to help their period and regulate their bodies, so I think it overall is just very important.”

            Wesner concludes with her thoughts regarding the importance of contraception and reproductive care. “I think any woman who’s sexually active should have the right to choose whether or not they want to have a contraceptive method. And I think it’s important for people to know about what methods are effective what methods are available. For the first time in a very long time, we’ve finally seen nationally the teen pregnancy rates dropping, which is major. I think that that is due to providing care and providing the ability for women to get contraceptives. So I certainly don’t want to see that downward slope of those rates go back up again because people can’t access services and if people can’t get to Planned Parenthood, specifically people who don’t have care, including college students, then I think we’re going to have an issue with those rates increasing again.”