This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
If you haven’t already heard the news yet, Planned Parenthood was recently voted to be defunded. You may be wondering why.. Why exactly would a place that has been so helpful to women for years now suddenly be withheld from government money? Well sadly, it’s simply because men want control over the bodies of women. Many claim that the reason behind this decision is because tax payers don’t want to pay for other women’s abortions.. But anyone who does a little research would know that couldn’t be true and isn’t enough basis for such a huge decision. Here are a few reasons why Planned Parenthood shouldn’t have been defunded.
1. A place for women AND men to go
Planned Parenthood has been known for years as a resource for young women AND men. They offer a plethora of services including, FREE birth control, counseling, STD tests and pregnancy tests. Planned Parenthood is a vital part of many teenage girls lives not only because they’re in such a age of indecisiveness, but also because it has always been a place for them to turn to for help when they had nowhere else to go. Defunding Planned Parenthood will deny many of these girls resources and cause them to have to go without.
2. A place for women to receive breast exams.
Breast Exams are an important factor in a woman’s health. Planned Parenthood promotes regular breast exams performed by health care providers because they can detect Breast Cancer earlier; the earlier Breast Cancer is detected and treated the better it is for your health. Planned Parenthood isn’t just a place for abortions and birth control, contrary to many peoples beliefs, but a place for women to get health check ups in general.
3. Low Cost/Free Birth Control
Birth control can often be a scary subject for teenagers to bring up to their parents. As a 15 year old, I didn’t exactly know how to talk to my mom and dad about birth control. I was extremely happy and relived to find that the doctors and counselors at Planned Parenthood were there to help me make my decision on what sort of birth control I wanted and also helped me get it for free. This is the memory that comes to mind when I think about Planned Parenthood. Not every girl has the resources to pay for birth control, so having a place where the cost can be changed based on income is extremely helpful.