Planned Parenthood & Federal Funding

There's been a lot going on in Congress lately concerning the federal funding set aside for family planning.  I think it's important to know just exactly what's going on in DC and, even more importantly, what the federal money set aside for family planning actually goes to.

One of the most prominent organizations that we're all familiar with when it comes to family planning is Planned Parenthood.  While it does provide contraception and abortion services for women, the ways in which the organization helps women reaches much farther than that.

In addition to those services, Planned Parenthood also provides breast exams, pelvic exams, sexually transmitted diseases tests, and much more.  Most importantly, the organization provides these services at a much lower rate than at a doctor's office or the hospital.  Sometimes they are even offered at no cost.

This isn't a complete list of what Planned Parenthood does, so if you are interested I encourage you to go to  their website and see what else they offer.  What I want to address now is what is going on right now in Congress concerning federal funding and family planning.

Most basically, (and I apologize in advance for any confusion because many of these political/economic terms are still new to me, too) the House of Representatives last month adopted an amendment spending bill H.R. 1 that would stop federal funding for family planning services such as Planned Parenthood.  This would be a cut of $75 million.

The amendment now faces the Senate.  If it is passed, it will mean the end of federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

For me, this is not a pro-life nor pro-choice problem.  Now, I know that this is not true for everyone, and that they are some whose pro-life beliefs are so strong that even though the organization provides many more important services to women, they simply cannot support its funding because of its abortion services.  And I completely respect that view.

But I just want to say why this isn't about pro-life and pro-choice for me.  Women need access to health care at lower costs, especially considering how much these services cost normally.  In addition to those other services that I mentioned before, Planned Parenthood also provides counseling services and even some general health care services (such as diabetes and cholesterol testing).

I wasn't aware of all of the other services that Planned Parenthood provides - and if you weren't either, I hope this post opened your eyes a little bit.  If anything, I hope it encourages you to think a little bit about whether or not cutting federal funding for Planned Parenthood is in the best interest of women.  Whatever conclusion you come to is your own choice.  I just hope that you take some time to think about it.

If you are interested in getting involved in this issue, I again highly encourage you to visit their website.

If you don't want to see federal funding for family planning cut, you can go here and sign an open letter to Congress encouraging them not to pass this bill.  It only takes a couple of minutes, and, as I'm always encouraging you all to do, is a great way to make your voice heard.