The Planned Parenthood Controversy: Does “Defunded” Mean “Doomed?”

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding the idea of defunding Planned 

 

Parenthood. The legislation being proposed on the subject are just measures being 

 

taken in order to place women in a box and continue to cultivate our society’s 

 

patriarchal system. 

 

We live in a patriarchal world—one that caters to and is ruled by men. Women, 

 

because of this, have been perpetually tied to their reproductive organs. Seen as 

 

sexual entities that produced children and were there to be impregnated by the 

 

man, women’s bodies were controlled by men. Historically, women did not have 

 

access to procedures, resources or medications to control her reproductive health.  

 

This controlled relationship between men and women has translated into the 

 

modern world. 

 

This historic relationship rears its ugly head when it comes to the issue of abortion 

 

and women’s reproductive health. Something that was once controlled by the man 

 

has gradually become something a woman can take care of herself. She does not 

 

need a man to get pregnant, she can use birth control to prevent herself from getting 

 

pregnant, she can raise a child on her own without the help of a man and she has 

 

control over how she chooses to take care of her reproductive health. This causes 

 

men to feel uncomfortable because of the loss of their historic control over women. 

 

Of course, not all men feel this way and there is a large amount of men who are in 

 

favor of a woman’s right to choose, whether it be regarding abortion or 

 

reproductive health in general. However, it’s important to recognize are the patterns 

 

in place. Men are in fact the ones creating the majority of the legislation regarding 

 

women’s health. Considering the historic patterns of men’s control over women, we 

 

need to be careful of how women are being represented when it comes to issues 

 

related to their bodies. 

 

 

resources to prevent unintended pregnancies, provide pap tests and breast exams, 

 

treat and test for sexually transmitted diseases and provide programs that educate 

 

people on the subject nationwide. Three percent of the listed services include 

 

abortions, leaving the overwhelming majority of the services to providing affordable 

 

healthcare to people who need it. 

 

The national mania over the issue of abortion causes that three percent to create an 

 

upheaval in the Republican Party. This steers the argument away from Planned 

 

Parenthood and towards abortion exclusively, which ignores the potentially 

 

devastating loss of other services provided by the organization. 

 

Federal funding provided to the organization, however, is restricted under United 

 

States law to only “be used for abortions [if] the pregnancy threatens the woman’s 

 

life or was caused by rape or incest” according to Ms. Richards in an article 

 

regarding the subject. This crumbles the Republican’s argument that Planned 

 

Parenthood should be defunded because they do not want federal money being used 

 

for abortions. Most of the federal money is in fact being used on the 97 other 

 

percent of services provided by the organization unless an abortion falls within 

 

those confines. 

 

Without Planned Parenthood, not only would millions of people be without sexual 

 

and reproductive healthcare, but also taking away this organization would limit 

 

women’s ability to gain access to affordable healthcare services. In an article by the 

 

Washington Post, Cecile Richards, the president of the organization is quoted 

 

stating, “In their obsession with attacked women’s access to health care, extreme 

 

members of Congress would take basic health care away from people who need it 

 

most—those who are struggling to get by, who rely on Medicaid or have no health 

 

insurance, and those who live in areas with few medical options.” 

 

 

The legislation concerning the defunding of Planned Parenthood is not the first to be 

 

introduced by men in regards to having control over women. It is no different than 

 

their use of legislation to prevent women from voting or owning property. This is a 

 

trend that is threaded throughout history where men instate legislation that, in 

 

some way or another, puts women in a box. 

 

The Blunt Amendment, which was proposed in 2012 and sponsored by male senator 

 

Roy Blunt, is a good example of men pushing to continue this legislative trend. This 

 

amendment was to essentially make it possible for one’s boss to decide what 

 

healthcare services would be provided to employees based upon their own 

 

personal, religious and moral beliefs. The bill stated “nothing in this title shall be 

 

construed to require an individual or institutional health care provider, or authorize 

 

a health plan to require a provider, to provide, participate in, or refer for a specific 

 

item or service contrary to the provider’s religious beliefs or moral convictions.” 

 

Statistically, because of gender inequality in our patriarchal society, it can be proven 

 

that women make up less than nine percent of top management positions in the 

 

workplace. If this amendment were to pass, men would have been making the 

 

majority of decisions about women’s access to health care, and more specifically 

 

reproductive healthcare. It is important to consider the dynamic this presents. 

 

Although men do not experience reproductive health in the same way as women, 

 

they still try to control how a woman’s reproductive health is handled. 

 

Although this amendment was not put into place, it is important that we recognize 

 

these dynamics and trends when they emerge to ensure legislation like this does not 

 

box women into a patriarchal society where men decide their fate. 

 

Social patterns such as this illuminate our society’s path for the future, and the 

 

defunding of Planned Parenthood is an example of a pattern that would send us 

 

down a path into the past.