Reading residents talk Congress' fight to defund Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood, a national health care provider dedicated to offering women, men and teens high-quality, affordable medical care, has been at the forefront of national political news for the past year because of the various attempts to defund this non-profit organization.  

In 2015, the House and Senate voted seven times on bills that would have defunded Planned Parenthood. Five separate congressional committees were formed to investigate the organization after an anti-abortion group released videos showing the family planning organization selling fetal parts after abortions. The videos were ultimately debunked, but efforts to stop providing funds continued. Planned Parenthood receives over a third of its money in government grants and contracts, amounting to over $500 million in both 2014 and 2015, so defunding the organization would have huge consequences.  

Source- Planned Parenthood

President Barack Obama opposed Congress on January 8, 2016 by vetoing H.R.3762, a bill that proposed a year-long defunding which was passed by the House and the Senate in 2015. The Senate failed to override his veto the following month. 

But with President Obama's term ending within the year, he will no longer have the ultimate say, and the fate of this issue is uncertain.  

"What worries me about this whole issue is that we really have no idea what to expect," says Meredith Yacknik, a former student at Albright College and Reading, PA native. "Depending on who gets elected, this sort of bill might get passed much more easily. We just sort of have to wait." 

Yacknik has relied on Planned Parenthood's Reading location since she was a teenager to get birth control. 

Reading, PA native Meredith Yacknik

"I work two blocks away from their office, so it's just super convenient for me," says Yacknik. "It's nearby, it's affordable, it's reliable. The only downside is the waiting room is usually pretty full so sometimes you have to wait a while, but honestly that just goes to show that it's important. In a city like Reading where there is so much poverty, Planned Parenthood is necessary." 

The Reading location is one of Planned Parenthood's almost 700 health clinics in the United States and abroad. According to the US Census Bureau, 32.9 percent of all residents of Reading live below the poverty level, including 45.7 percent of those under 18. In addition to providing affordable health care services, the Reading location also sponsors three programs for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, asexual and allied (LGBTQA+) youth ages 14 to 21- The Rainbow Room, The Curve and The Spectrum.

Planned Parenthood- Reading Medical Center

"I'm assuming that if they lost their government funding, the services that they provide to the public will have to go up in price," says Dr. Tom Porrazzo, professor at Alvernia University. "As a professor, I see my students stressed out on a daily basis. Taking away their access to affordable health care is just going to add to that. It doesn't seem fair." 

One in five women in America has visited a Planned Parenthood clinic for health care. Services provided include Pap smears, breast exams, birth control and sexually transmitted infection screenings. Approximately three-quarters of its patients are low-income and don't have a primary health care provider. Planned Parenthood's services offered extend to men, as well.  

"I have four children- two sons and two daughters- and it's just as important to me that my sons have access to affordable health care as it is that my daughters do," says Porrazzo. "I think most people think about women and abortions when they hear about Planned Parenthood, but there's so much more to it than that. And I guess even in an ideal world, a woman getting an abortion would have a man at her side supporting her through the process." 

Albright senior Connor Feeney has never used Planned Parenthood's services personally but has friends who rely on the organization for their health care.  

"It affects my friends so it affects me," says Feeney. "I think it should probably get more funding. Sex education is a huge problem in this country, and I feel like there should be more awareness of the good services they provide, but people get so caught up in the abortion issue so that masks a lot of the good that they do." 

Albright College senior Connor Feeney

Although government funds cannot be used directly for abortion services, opponents of abortion argue that allocating money to Planned Parenthood for medical services not related to abortion allows other funds to be re-allocated for abortions. In that sense, the opponents believe that the funding does go toward abortion, but indirectly.  

"I would sincerely encourage the opponents to really look into everything that Planned Parenthood offers, because abortion is only a small portion of what they do and it's not even all that frequent," says Albright senior Stephanie Force. 

Abortions account for approximately 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's services, making up about 328,000 of the  nearly 10.6 million services provided between 2013 and 2014.  

Source- Planned Parenthood

"Back in high school I had a friend who was at a party and her ex was there and he raped her and she got pregnant, and carried the baby full-term," says Force. "Any woman that finds herself in that sort of circumstance should have the right to her own body and Planned Parenthood sort of allows women to have that right and to make those decisions for themselves." 

"I've gone with two friends to Planned Parenthood for their abortions," says Yacknik. "I remember the one crying afterward and I figured she was sad, but she told me that she was actually crying out of relief. To her, Planned Parenthood was sort of a savior." 

For now, Planned Parenthood will continue to receive funding, allowing their services to be kept at an affordable rate for not only the over 80,000 inhabitants of Reading but for the whole country.  

"Those who feel like they have nowhere else to turn. Those who need help and need a safe place. That's who the government needs to keep in mind," says Force. 

"There are so many other things that these politicians can be focusing on," adds Porrazzo. "Let's hope that's what they start doing."