One day, a woman and her husband go to the hospital for an ultrasound. She’s pregnant with a girl, but this is a risky pregnancy, and her daughter will die by the end of the 20th week. After 20 weeks, Texas does not allow a woman to have an abortion. The woman is forced to carry her and deliver a stillborn baby. In other cases, women have to drive to different states to have abortions, they can deliver their babies early and have them die, or they can have an induced labor abortion. Either way, this family will suffer immense pain and the baby will not live. In the case of abortion, one of the nation’s most controversial topics, we can not force a woman to do something that her body is incapable of. Why is it that something that can’t think for itself has more rights than a grown woman? Please, entertain me.
Planned Parenthood is an organization that seems to be a tabooed subject nowadays. It was once viewed as a helpful resource for women and families, but is now being condemned as a source for illegal business. Planned Parenthood has been accused of selling aborted fetuses for research. While selling one fetus may raise around $2,000 for the non-profit organization, it is illegal to sell aborted fetuses for any money that does not fund the direct costs of extracting and delivering them to research facilities. The income coming from the research goes back into the organization for their health care services.
Planned Parenthood is a health center that provides services to both men and women, including abortions, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, birth control and contraceptives, and family planning. Three percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are actually abortions, and they can not be federally funded. When taking the funding from Planned Parenthood, we take away benefits from women who potentially have no other resources, just because you believe that abortions are wrong.
We don’t fight for Planned Parenthood funding just because we can’t afford birth control or because we are so reckless that we need to have abortions, common arguments among liberals and conservatives. We fight for funding because Planned Parenthood is a safe haven in a time of need. There are women who can not afford healthcare services or are rejected from clinics and hospitals. There are women who are unaware of their health problems because they can’t afford it. Somehow, we have overlooked what Planned Parenthood really is because of how others want Planned Parenthood to be portrayed. Please reflect on this: Why is it wrong for Planned Parenthood to perform an abortion that a woman asked for, or is in dire need of, but it is acceptable for a person to shoot up a random Planned Parenthood facility with a multitude of workers and civilians inside?
A woman can enter Planned Parenthood with questions about starting a family, the risks of her pregnancy, or how to terminate a pregnancy that she is not ready for. As the government restricts coverage of some services, people will choose to stop searching for health care. They will not bust their heads to look for a place that will give them affordable contraceptives and treatment. Instead, they will put themselves at risk because they will not be able to find a place like Planned Parenthood.
By choosing to defund Planned Parenthood, you deny women their basic health and bodily rights. You disrespect them and strip them of dignity. When a woman is raped, Planned Parenthood offers her testing and treatment. Planned Parenthood offers women options for dealing with unforeseen outcomes. They offers us ways to prevent consequences that no person could see coming their way. Instead, you are choosing to force them to deal with the consequences of a forced action, one in which they had no say. How is that fair? Yet you will tell a woman not to get blackout drunk around men because “boys will be boys” and “these things happen”. No. These things do not happen, because they can be prevented. Planned Parenthood has offered women so much so that they may live good, fair lives. So yes. I am going to call out this country. I will continue to speak up about the problems we face in this country as women because sometimes, others do not understand. Do not tell us to watch out for ourselves when you can’t put a rapist behind bars. Do not tell us that we do not need help to pay for birth control but then continue to ignore those five dollar condoms that are handed out like candy with a higher rate of failure, expecting us to use to stay protected. Do not continue to expect a woman to take responsibilities for everything around her when you have not taken responsibility for yourself. The topic of whether Planned Parenthood should be defunded or not should not be decided on how much sex girls are having. And while you tell girls YOU DON’T KNOW to stop having sex, tell your sons and bros to stop raping women.