Planned Parenthood Does More Than Just That One Thing
On March 29, President Donald Trump held a panel at the White House devoted to women’s empowerment. There were several important people in attendance from Education Secretary Betsy Devos, United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and even Vice President Mike Pence.
The next day Pence was in attendance at the Senate. He even got to cast a tie-breaking vote. The vote was to allow states to no longer fund Planned Parenthood. It’s safe to say Pence completely forgot the event he was in attendance for the night before.
One of my close friends and I got in a “Facebook fight” after she shared an article about this and said, “(It’s) a blessing to have leaders who still stand for this.” I commented a quote from the article she shared that said the vote decided that the federal government would no longer give money to clinics that provided contraception and health services to low income families. Her response was that people shouldn’t have to pay taxes for things they don’t believe in, such as abortions.
The fact that she said that stunned me. All people pay taxes for things they may not agree with or have nothing to do with. 16 percent of the government’s budget goes towards our country’s self-defense. Thousands of people are against the war. Not all people have children, and yet, a portion of their taxes goes to supporting education. Where’s the option to let people stop paying those taxes?
People often forget that Planned Parenthood was designed to offer affordable health care to women and their families. These can come in forms of contraception, breast exams, UTI treatments, STD testing, and yes, sometimes abortions. With the defunding of Planned Parenthood, 2.5 million people a year would lose all of those things.
While not all people may agree with some of the things Planned Parenthood does, they do not exist to make other people uncomfortable. Planned Parenthood exists for low income women and their families to get the health care they need and deserve. How can someone say they don’t agree with that?