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Planned Parenthood Funding

November 8th, 2016. Does this date ring a bell? It is the date of our next presidential
election. Less than a year from now, you will be standing in the booth with a curtain behind you
and an empty ballot in front. Do you know who youre voting for?
Every year the candidates discuss the most controversial issues and where they each
stand, and every election season the debate over the funding of Planned Parenthood is discussed.
This debate matters immensely to millions of women across the United States, and as an
informed voter, you should know each candidates opinion on this issue.
Planned Parenthood is an organization that provides health services for women regardless
of their financial situation or insurance provider. They offer a variety of services such as family
planning, cancer screenings, STD/STI tests, abortions, cholesterol screening, and many more.
They offer a few services for men such as, infertility testing, general health check-ups, cancer
screenings and several others. For nearly 100 years, Planned Parenthood has been operating with
help from government funding to provide women with essential health services ("Who We Are").
This election, more than ever before, the debate over Planned Parenthood funding is a hot
topic based on videos that have surfaced over the past few months. Many Republicans are
pushing for government funding to be taken from Planned Parenthood for many reasons, a large
contributor is their performance of abortions. Many Democrats are fighting to keep their funding
because all women deserve the right to health care. Become and informed voter so you know
who will save Planned Parenthood and keep these services available for the next 100 years.
Part of the fight against defunding Planned Parenthood is a fight against misinformation.
A video edited by anti-abortion activists in which one it appears to be a team of doctors
discussing the selling of aborted fetal tissue, which is a federal crime. The other video is a clinic

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in which an aborted fetus laying on a table with its heart beating. No proof is ever given that this
video is even filmed in a Planned Parenthood clinic. Both videos have been edited for effect and
were originally published by an anti-abortion activist posing as a representative for a biomedical
company. R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at University of Wisconsin Law
School, writes an article for The New England Journal of Medicine titled Fetal Tissue Fallout,
in which she discusses the video and fetal tissue research. Charo ties the events current video
controversy to the history of fetal tissue research. One of the strongest points she makes is
talking about is how defunding Planned Parenthood will not reduce abortions, which is the
supposed ultimate goal for the anti-abortion activists (Alta Charo).
It is really important to understand that Alta Charo points out that the video that is being
viewed of the Planned Parenthood executives is edited and in no way proves that they are selling
aborted fetal tissue for profit. But they do receive money to cover the costs of transferring the
tissue to clinics that use it for research (Alta Charo). At first even this fact was slightly disturbing
to myself but she goes on to explain how we all have benefitted from the research done on fetal
tissue. Alta Charo explains that anyone who has received a vaccine has benefited from this
research and even those who havent been vaccinated have benefitted from the immunity of
those who have (Alta Charo). She makes it nearly impossible to argue against fetal research.
Ms. Alta Charo would have a lot to say to the republicans at the GOP debates specifically
presidential candidate, Carly Fiorina, who speaks about Planned Parenthood selling fetal tissue.
CNN produced a short video with Carolyn Maloney, the representative for New Yorks 12th
Congressional District and senior woman on the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, showing highlights about the main arguments made by some of the Republicans.
Along with Carly Fiorina, candidate Ted Cruz and Chris Christie were also featured in the video.

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All three Republican Candidates made it clear that if they were to become president they would
immediately defund Planned Parenthood. In fact Christie already vetoed Planned Parenthood a
total of 8 times, and it has not been funded since he stepped into office (qtd in Maloney). The
CNN narrator informs us that in 2012 he made it clear that this was purely a financial move and
had nothing to do with his morals. But to appeal to Republican voters he wants to appear as if it
is a moral obligation of his to defund Planned Parenthood (Maloney).
While Fiorina insists that the videos are true and that it shows the fetus on the table with a
heart beating. Alta Charo has already demonstrated that the videos are indeed edited and that she
herself has been benefitted by the research done with fetal tissue. Likewise the CNN narrator
even mentions that the videos are edited and there is no proof that they were even filmed in a
Planned Parenthood (Maloney).
While the fight for the ending of abortion will always be a common thread among
Republicans, some candidates do not think defunding Planned Parenthood is the way to go about
it. In a strange turn of events we see in an article written by Betsy Woodruff, that Donald Trump
is Planned Parenthoods Favorite Republican. She goes on to explain that while Donald Trump
is still very against abortions he in fact supports government funding going towards the other
services they provide. The law already prevents Planned Parenthood or any family planning
service from using government money to provide abortions. Trumps spokesperson Eric Ferraro
even goes on to say how he hopes the rest of the GOP candidates will realize how rash their
opinions on defunding preventive care, abortion bans, and the other economic issues that
women and their families care about.(Do I cite here or at end?) While this opinion has made
him slightly more favored by the Democratic side, he has angered the pro-life activist. One in
particular, Lila Rose, brings up the videos that have surfaced and how Trump has clearly ignored

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the facts that they bring (Woodruff). Once again Dr. Alta Charo would strongly advise Ms. Rose
to reconsider her views on the video and to watch the unedited versions and to get her facts
straight (Alta Charo).
For as long as I can remember money has always been a controversial subject. Some
Republicans are grabbing onto this idea and attempting to use it as a selling point for the
defunding of Planned Parenthood. Callum Lamb, student at the Univeristy of California, Irvine,
attempts to debunk the myth that defunding Planned Parenthood is a good economic decision. He
challenges his readers to not only look at it from the stand point of abortion is bad but to instead
focus on the 97% of the other services they offer. He pulls it all together by really honing in on
why it is essential we keep the funding for Planned Parenthood based on the women we are
helping who financially cannot help themselves, which in turn saves our tax money in the long
run (Lamb).
Referenced in Lambs article was a piece written by Susan Cohen, Vice President of
Public Policy for Guttmacher Institute. Cohen discusses Title X, which is a federal grant program
that provides individuals with family planning and other related services. Title Xs existences has
led to fewer unintended pregnancies, teenage pregnancies and abortions. It also helps a
million low-income women prevent unplanned births every years. With the Title X and all the
services the government has saved billions of dollars that would otherwise have to be paid
through Medicaid (Cohen).
If we continue to fund Planned Parenthood it is proven that for every $1 of our tax money
that goes to them, we save $3.74. This may seem a bit confusing but because of Planned
Parenthoods contraceptive services the stop many unwanted pregnancies, through their

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dispersion of contraceptives that we in fact save money instead of having their kids that they
cannot afford on Medicaid also (Cohen).
Republicans often claim they do not want their tax money going to abortions, but if they
knew about Title X they would see clearly that from its creation funds have never been used for
abortion, therefore their claim is invalid. Both Cohen and William Saletan discuss this in their
articles. William Saletan, the author of Bering Rights and writer for Slate focuses on
debunking the claims made by the Republican Party during one of their many debates. In his
article, "The GOP's Argument for Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Incoherent" Saletan goes
into more depth about claims made by Republicans that just do not add up. One critic of many
made against Planned Parenthood is that they do not offer mammograms in their offices, but
instead refer women to a specialist. If they were to take away their funding most likely they
would offer less services. If their goal is for them to be able to offer mammograms, increase their
funding so they would be able to purchase that technology (Saletan).
Along with the criticism of the services offered it is often brought up that community
health centers are better than Planned Parenthoods because they are more personalized to suit
their communities. If this was true than the government or as Saletan says Big Brother would
not need to step in and control where the money goes. More than 80% of the money Planned
Parenthood gets from the federal government is Medicaid reimbursement (Saletan). If the
women preferred to go to a community health center than that is where they would choose to go.
Because Planned Parenthood receives funding from the government and can afford to
accept Medicaid they are able to rely on that for the income to pay their employees and cover the
costs of the procedures. If they were no longer able to receive this funding they would have to

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rely more on abortions to allow them to still treat low-income woman. If the Republicans main
goal is to reduce abortions then they should continue the funding (Saletan).
This debate has been going on for many elections. It was discussed in the previous
election in 2012 and once again the Republicans took the defunding route. He was quoted saying
Planned Parenthood, were going to get rid of that (qtd in Jeltson). In an article written by
Melissa Jeltson, a journalist for the Huffington Post she discusses how Planned Parenthood
rebutted this statement with a quote for their vice-president Dawn Laguens, When Mitt Romney
says he wants to get rid of Planned Parenthood, he means getting rid of the preventive health
care that three million people a year rely on for cancer screenings, birth control, and other
preventive care (qtd in Jeltson). The end of her statement discuss the lack of trust she now has in
Romney when it comes to dealing with Womens health. It is also ironic that back in 2002 when
he was running for Governor he asked Planned Parenthood in Massachusetts to endorse him and
supported abortion rights until 2005 (Jeltson).
It amazes me how quickly politicians can change their minds simply to win a vote. It is
never directly stated but it can be assumed that in order to win the Republicans votes he need to
be anti-abortion. Although he still lost the 2012 election because our country values womens
rights.
Although this issue has been going on for a while, new tactics are being used to defund
Planned Parenthood. They are attempting to pass a budget reconciliation bill, which can pass
the Senate with a simple majority instead of the typical 60-vote threshold (Cunningham). Paige
Cunningham, Washington Examiner political journalist, gives all the details of this new idea in
her article about this new idea that was proposed in October. This new bill would stop Planned
Parenthood from receiving any funding for the next year and would redirect the money to other

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health centers (Cunningham). They claim this bill would allow women to receive the same
treatments Planned Parenthood provides without supporting abortions, but no other abortion
providers are targeted. This bill has the chance to get further than other proposed defunding
tactics, but President Obama has already stated that he will veto any efforts to defund Planned
Parenthood. The Senate does not have nearly enough votes to override a veto (Cunningham).
Who are the 2016 candidates that you should be voting for in order to keep funding? Liz
Rowley is a staff writer for Mic and she wrote an article explaining where the main candidates
from both parties stand on the Planned Parenthood debate. Bernie Sanders has been quoted
saying that the attempt to defund Planned Parenthood are an attack on Womens Health (qtd in
Rowley). Martin OMalley is a democratic candidate and former Maryland governor and has
been honored by Planned Parenthood for "his outstanding leadership in protecting and advancing
reproductive rights in Maryland" (qtd in Rowley). Hiliary Clinton is a well-known candidate and
has been known to support womens rights to make their own decisions in regards to their health
care. She has always supported Planned Parenthood nd will continue to do so through this
election (Rowley). While it has still not been confirmed who will be on the 2016 presidential
ballot, more than likely one of three individuals will represent the Democratic Party and are the
best options for saving Planned Parenthood.
On the other hand these are the candidates you do not want to vote for if you care about
womens rights to health care. Carly Fiorina is extremely opposed to Planned Parenthood and has
openly attacked them at several debates. She believes the videos are accurate and use them as her
main focal point for why Planned Parenthood needs defunded. Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and
GOP candidate is known as one of the most vocal opposers to the funding of Planned
Parenthood (qtd in Rowley). He believes that if Obamacare was supposed to be able to secure

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women with these services, than why is Planned Parenthood necessary. This is more a jab at our
current president than Planned Parenthood. Another Candidate, Marco Rubio, a senator from
Florida, thinks Planned Parenthood is a morally bankrupt organization and that they should
never receive another dime from American taxpayers (qtd in Rowley). Jeb Bush, also from
Florida, believes that Planned Parenthood is not actually doing womens health issues. They are
involved in something way different than that (qtd in Rowley). Bush also defunded Planned
Parenthood in Florida when he was governor in 2001(Rowley). Voting for one of these four
Republicans will guarantee that an effort will be made to defund Planned Parenthood and deprive
women of the health care they deserve. If you are looking to vote Republican vote Donald
Trump, the only Republican candidate in support of Planned Parenthood.
Now imagine one more time its November 8th, 2016 and you are standing in the voting
booth. Do you know who you are going to vote for?

Works Cited
Alta Charo, J.D. R. "Fetal Tissue Fallout." The New England Journal of Medicine. NEJM Group,
3 Sept. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1510279>.

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Cohen, Susan A. "The Numbers Tell the Story: The Reach and Impact of Title X." Guttmacher
Institute. GPR, 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
<http://sparky.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/14/2/gpr140220.pdf>.
Cunningham, Paige Winfield. "Abortion Foes to Congress: Use Budget Tactic to Defund Planned
Parenthood." Washington Examiner. Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2015. Web. 4 Nov.
2015. <http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/abortion-foes-to-congress-use-budgettactic-to-defund-planned-parenthood/article/2573424>.
"Donald Trump Is Planned Parenthood's Favorite Republican." The Daily Beast. Daily Beast
Company, 11 Aug. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/11/donald-trump-is-planned-parenthoods-favorite-republican.html>.
Jeltsen, Melissa. "Mitt Romney on Planned Parenthood: We Will 'Get Rid' of It." Huff Post
Politics. Huffington Post, 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/mitt-romney-plannedparenthood_n_1343450.html>.
Lamb, Callum. "Funding Planned Parenthood." Interrupt. U of California, Irvine, 25 Nov. 2013.
Web. 4 Nov. 2015. <http://writing.uci.edu/interrupt/funding-planned-parenthood/>.
Maloney, Carolyn. "Don't Defund Planned Parenthood." CNN. CNN, 29 Sept. 2015. Web. 4 Nov.
2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/29/opinions/maloney-planned-parenthood/>.
Rowley, Liz. "Presidential Election 2016: Where Every Major Candidate Stands on Planned
Parenthood." Policy. Mic. Mic Networks, 6 Oct. 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.
<http://mic.com/articles/126220/presidential-election-2016-where-every-majorcandidate-stands-on-planned-parenthood#.L1aR6H2DL>.

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Saletan, William. "The GOP's Argument for Defunding Planned Parenthood Is Incoherent."
Slate. Slate Group, 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/09/the_gop_s_argument_
for_defunding_planned_parenthood_makes_no_sense.html>.
"Who We Are." Planned Parenthood: Care. No Matter What. Planned Parenthood, 2014. Web.
12 Nov. 2015. <https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us>.
Woodruff, Betsy. "Donald Trump Is Planned Parenthood's Favorite Republican." The Daily
Beast. Daily Beast Company, 11 Aug. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/11/donald-trump-is-planned-parenthoods-favorite-republican.html>.