Planned Parenthood Defunding: Problem/Solution

 

Planned Parenthood clinics have been defunded for a little while now and the issue shed light on human rights. The organization gets defunded because of abortion care, but many men and women have to lose access to safe and affordable health care. While the Hyde Amendment tried to work as a solution for federal funding to Planned Parenthood clinics for a while, ultimately it failed. A new solution needs to be brought into light and the possibility of a sister organization built around people’s health care needs solely seems to be a good way to go. Separate the abortion care and the health care so the government knows exactly where federal funding is going. The war on women’s choice and abortion care is not one that will be fought overnight, but women and men’s health care is not a war that should have to be fought at all.

 

 

The defunding of Planned Parenthood clinics has been quite the controversy for the past few years. Many people and politicians believe that Planned Parenthood should stay defunded because the clinic offers abortion services to the women it treats. More conservative folks who do not believe in abortions do not think federal funding should go toward those procedures. However, Planned Parenthood is not a clinic that just does abortions. The health care centers “provide affordable access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services as well as accurate sexual education from highly skilled and trained clinicians and counselors,” (Silver). “In 2013: half a million women went to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening, 400,000 women received a cervical exam from Planned Parenthood’s medical staff, and 4.5 million treatments and tests for sexually transmitted diseases and infections were performed,” (Ernst). Planned Parenthood, now only privately funded, is the only source of health care for four out of 10 women who used to go to a Title X-funded health care center (Ernst). So, the controversy lies in the federal funding distribution and women’s health care needs across the entire country. This is not just a problem for politicians, but a problem for women and men everywhere in the United States to have a say in since it is our access on the line. Although Planned Parenthood is no longer federally funded, some clinics are still struggling to stay open which poses the need for a new solution.

When Planned Parenthood clinics were receiving funding from the government, they were getting “approximately $500 million in public funding, with federal funding, consisting of Medicaid reimbursements and grants from the Title X Family Planning Program” (Penn Bioethics Journal). However, since 1980, only seven years after the passing of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States, came an amendment called the Hyde Amendment which prohibited the use of federal funds for abortions except “in cases involving rape, incest, or endangerment of the mother’s life” (Penn Bioethics Journal). According to the Hyde Amendment, federal funding was not going to abortions unless they had predetermined cause that was federally approved beforehand. Any abortion being done at a Planned Parenthood clinic that did not involve cases of rape, incest, or endangerment of the mother’s life were not funded by the government. The government was very clear about their intentions with the funding to women’s clinics for abortions along the lines of the Hyde Amendment and in the end, it was not the best solution for the United States and Planned Parenthood as a whole. With such tough restrictions on the federally funded money for Planned Parenthood’s abortion allowances, it doesn’t seem to make much sense as to why some conservative citizens and politicians still felt the needs to defund the clinic entirely in the end.

Regardless of why Planned Parenthood ended up being defunded entirely, that is the reality that the United States faces now in 2019. With no federal funding, there have been some clinics shut down around the country which make access to safe and affordable healthcare to women harder to come by. In one study, “the local presence of a Planned Parenthood clinic was associated with a reduced dropout rate [in high school aged girls] regardless of whether the facility provided abortions” (Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health). This study can support the fact that the defunding of Planned Parenthoods can be detrimental in many ways considering clinics can shut down and having clinics up is scientifically proven to reduce dropout rates as well as provide safe and affordable healthcare. Another study showed that “for every dollar the federal government spend[s] on Title X programs, it save[s] three dollars in avoided Medicaid and new-born care costs” (Zoppo). It was also stated that “federal family planning funding has actually reduced abortion rates. From 1980-2000, Title X-supported clinics (like Planned Parenthood) helped women avoid nearly 20 million unintended pregnancies, nine million of which would have ended in abortion” (Zoppo). So, while Planned Parenthood is already defunded, and the reality is that the United States is dealing with privately funded clinics now, it seems like the evidence backs up the fact that the government could have greatly benefited, and did seem to greatly benefit from, Title X-funded programs and clinics.

So, with all that background and the reality of the situation, what good solution does the United States have in front of them today? The one solution that the government had that didn’t pan out so well was The Hyde Amendment. It worked for a little while and then more conservative parties thought it was too fine of a line to walk between what could be considered medically necessary for an abortion or what would be okay along the amendment guidelines. Some politicians in the government who were against Planned Parenthood funding also spoke multiple times about how no one truly was able to know exactly where the federal funds were going once they were handed over to the clinics. Although the money “cannot legally be allocated towards abortions; …[and] is intended expressly for numerous other services that the organization[s] offer…” (Penn Bioethics Journal), the Hyde Amendment wasn’t cutting it as far as solutions for funding went. Despite the amendment, state funding for abortion varied state by state. “Various states include[d] all, some, or none of the exceptions mandated by the federal government, and 17 states [did] allow public funds to be used for abortions,” (Penn Bioethics Journal).  With all the distrust and borderlines in the amendment, the federal funds were pulled and women’s health care, even some men’s health care, is now at stake.

In 2019, Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are “defunded.” Being defunded by the federal government makes it incredibly hard for these clinics to stay up and running, to not close down, and to keep providing safe and affordable healthcare to their patients. How can this be fixed? If abortions are what the government wants to defund, then keep abortions and women and men’s healthcare separate. Planned Parenthood can open a sister clinic under the same organization with a different name and request federal funding that way, keeping abortions and healthcare completely separate. The government voted to defund abortions, not healthcare. 

This might seem like a completely daunting and somewhat undoable task, but when it is broken down logically, it makes quite a lot of sense. Yes, there are already many free healthcare clinics across the country, but clearly not enough. Not enough to hold the number of patients that need to free access to healthcare for services that Planned Parenthood provides. “Vaccination against influenza, hepatitis, and human papilloma-virus; smoking cessation counseling; anemia testing; and screening for cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and breast cancer,” (Silver) just to name a few of the many services the organization can provide. Never mind basic birth control and prenatal and post-partum care for mothers. The most sought after and needed women’s health care for many, especially if abortions are not being funded or legalized in some states. With that being said, Planned Parenthood needs to be up and running as a women’s health care center if nothing else. While abortion rights and restrictions are still a fight to be fought in this day and age, women’s (and men’s) affordable and accessible health care is not something to be questioned or discussed. It is a necessity and Planned Parenthood is an organization that has always been there to provide for their patients. So, the solution proposed would be to attempt a sister organization in hopes that federal funding can be brought back.

Planned Parenthood already has their name associated with abortions and has already lost their federal funding. While it is not necessarily “right or wrong,” it is what it is at this point. If they were to take on this solution, the Board of Directors would propose to create a sister organization to Planned Parenthood. This organization would have the same Board of Directors but possibly different buildings and a different name. For example: Women’s Health of America. The buildings of Women’s Health of America can be on the same campus of Planned Parenthood, or if they were to be in the same building as Planned Parenthood, they would have to run and be operated completely separate. For example, a woman who goes to Planned Parenthood today can use her insurance, so if she goes to a building with both Women’s Health of America and Planned Parenthood, she would have to specify to the insurance which organization she was using services from. Just like any other building that has multiple doctors’ offices in it. The Board of Directors can use this solution to keep Planned Parenthood as a defunded “abortion clinic” for lack of a better term and chose to use Women’s Health of America as the women and men’s health care clinic where they would perform all of the other services that Planned Parenthood used to do. Hopefully, after presenting this to the government, the Board of Directors can push for “refunding” or funding of Women’s Health of America. Even though abortion care would not be getting federal funds anymore, at least women and men’s safe and affordable health care will be back up and running.

It is unfortunate that the government and Planned Parenthood had to cut ties with funding. Planned Parenthood is quite an amazing organization with so much to offer just about any person of almost any age as far as healthcare goes. Understandably, everyone’s views are different and that is what makes the world go round, however it does become a problem when different viewpoints get in the way of people’s health and safety. Not everyone can afford insurance or quality healthcare which is why keeping clinics and organizations like Planned Parenthood open are so important. Without federal funds, it is hard to keep Planned Parenthoods running, so this new proposed solution could potentially be a great way to get some government assistance back. The fight between the government and abortion rights is a long and hard one that will take much longer than a few months and a renaming of a clinic to figure out, but women and men’s healthcare should absolutely not have to suffer in the meantime.

Ernst, H. J., Reid, H. H., Fischer, H. D., Murray, H. P., Coats, H. D., Warren, H. E., … Daines, H. S. (2015). The Pros and Cons of Federal Funding for Planned Parenthood. Congressional Digest, 94(8), 10–31. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezgcc.vccs.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=110316146&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Local Access to a Planned Parenthood Clinic Linked to Reduced Dropout Rates. (2016). Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, 48(3), 154–155. https://doi-org.ezgcc.vccs.edu:2443/10.1363/48e10816

Planned Parenthood Controversy Revives Abortion Debate. (2015). Penn Bioethics Journal, 11(2), 7. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezgcc.vccs.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=117725282&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Silver, D., & Kapadia, F. (2017). Planned Parenthood Is Health Care, and Health Care Must Defend It: A Call to Action. American Journal of Public Health, 107(7), 1040–1041. https://doi-org.ezgcc.vccs.edu:2443/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303867

Zoppo, D. (2012). The War on Women: Federal Remedies to Fight Back against States That De-Fund Planned Parenthood. Vermont Law Review, 37(2), 495–525. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezgcc.vccs.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=85832255&site=ehost-live&scope=site