Defunding of Planned Parenthood caused by misinformed Americans

By NATALIE FURMAN

The Facebook page “Defund Planned Parenthood” has 92,585 likes, a number that continues to grow each day. In my opinion, this is a disparaging fact and I hope that this number will significantly decrease. While taking a look at the “Defund Planned Parenthood” Facebook page, I do not see facts, but merely propaganda to persuade people to join this unnecessary and damaging cause.

The majority of the articles posted on “Defund Planned Parenthood” come from a single source, TownHall.com. When clicking on this biased and unreliable source, my computer screen was immediately bombarded with pop-up ads.

Although the TownHall.com articles come with links that supposedly back-up their arguments, they take one from the article to sites filled with ads and pictures of women advocating for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, not real informational sources.

Pictured, are mostly white women in suits standing tall and strong, shouting over a podium. These women advocating to defund Planned Parenthood are almost always republican, wealthy and white, which hardly represent the women and families who desperately need Planned Parenthood.

For, according to plannedparenthood.org, 78 percent of Planned Parenthood patients are at or below 150 percent poverty rates.

Planned Parenthood has been providing services to and educating people for 98 years and 2,680,000 clients are served by Planned Parenthood and affiliate health centers in the United States.

Unfortunately, news broke Friday that the House of Congress passed a bill that would strip Planned Parenthood of funding for at least one year, according to The Washington Post. If this bill is passed in the Senate, it will greatly affect the 5,180,000 people that receive sexual and reproductive health care and education from Planned Parenthood each year.

Much of the persuasion behind defunding Planned Parenthood comes from the idea that Planned Parenthood is involved in a great number of abortions and that they are selling body parts of aborted fetuses.

In fact, according to plannedparenthood.org, only 3 percent of health services provided by the institution are abortion services. The estimated number of unintended pregnancies prevented by Planned Parenthood contraceptive services is 516,000 per year and the estimated number of abortions averted by these contraceptive services is 217,000 per year.

The idea that Planned Parenthood is selling body parts is very controversial rumor currently spreading around the internet and is being fueled by videos fabricated by right-wing organizations and radical pro-life activists.

In reality, Planned Parenthood donates fetal tissue for research and has been doing so since the 1930s, according to an article in the Tampa Bay Times. The National Health Revitalization Act of 1993 outlines that the woman must sign a written statement consenting to the donation of fetal tissue for research purposes.

This research is currently aiding in the understanding and possible development of cures for diseases such as AIDS, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease. The NHR Act of 1993 also makes allowances for reasonable payments associated with the transportation, implantation, processing, preservation, quality control or storage of human fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood is a necessity for low-income families in the United States and all over the world.

The untruths being spread about Planned Parenthood are damaging and hopefully do not lead to the permanent defunding of such an important health care foundation for so many people. By making people more aware of the realities of Planned Parenthood and by providing real statistics, we can hopefully put a stop to the misinformation being spread and put an end to the ludicrous bills proposing the defunding of this organization.