Imagine being shamed every time you went to your healthcare provider for a routine checkup. For a woman seeking a routine checkup at her local Planned Parenthood, there is a constant threat of being victimized by pro-life advocates.
The closer she gets to the building, the more people she sees in her peripheral. She is embarrassed and ashamed by their condemning stares, yet she must continue her walk toward the door.
She risks the possibility of being yelled at, insulted, shamed, embarrassed, called names … and for what? Because she needed a Pap smear or a cervical exam? It seems absurd, but this is the reality for many women Planned Parenthood provides with sexual healthcare services. A simple check-up turns into her worst nightmare.
For years, defunding Planned Parenthood has been a priority on the Republican agenda. With House Speaker Paul Ryan vowing to “defund” the organization, thousands of women around the country are at risk of losing critical healthcare.
It’s important we don’t look at Planned Parenthood with tinted lenses. We should acknowledge the positive and supportive services the organization provides to women. I consider myself a young, forward-thinking woman, and I was raised in a devoutly catholic, pro-life home. I consider myself pro-woman, pro-fetus and pro-human, but I understand life doesn’t always work out the way we plan. Planned Parenthood educates and aids the most vulnerable of women.
The primary reason pro-life advocates are calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood is because the non-profit organization is the largest provider of abortions in the country. While this is true, in 2014, Planned Parenthood’s annual report detailed only 3 percent of the care provided by the organization was abortions. Thus, defunding the organization would mean 97 of the 100 women who need healthcare services would be unable to get them.
There is already a law in place which prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortions. The government only reimburses Planned Parenthood for the non-abortion health services it provides to low-income women with money from Medicaid and Title X family planning program.
Personally, I don’t believe saying you support Planned Parenthood means you support abortion. Instead, it means you support healthcare equality for low-income, working-class women and the opportunity for every young girl to educate herself about her sexual and reproductive health.
Defunding Planned Parenthood means limiting healthcare services available to girls and women, usually from those who need it most. Planned Parenthood clinics see around 2.5 million people annually, mostly for examinations, testing and treatment. Pap smears, STD testing, pregnancy testing and health screenings would be even more difficult to access without Planned Parenthood.
“The people that attack women’s health, they are so dumb politically,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “They don’t get it. They let ideology and condescension to women and sometimes just meanness overcome everything else, and they lose. And they’re going to lose again.”
As a college student, I am fully aware of the importance of sexual education and maintenance of reproductive health. As a college student, I am also aware of the outrageous costs of continued upkeep. Fortunately, I am covered under a great healthcare plan, but even so, just seeing the doctor costs me anywhere from $25 to $75. What I pay seems like a drop in the bucket compared to what many of my peers experience.
My roommate is under a Medicaid plan. Her birth control is not covered under her plan, and the out-of-pocket expense for her oral contraceptives is about $130. Planned Parenthood provides her with resources as well as access to vital care.
We should think twice before defunding the organization that ensures less women get pregnant and more women become educated and knowledgeable about their health.
Alaina DiLaura is an international studies and mass communication sophomore from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.