When many people think of Planned Parenthood, they immediately associate it with abortion services. Though Planned Parenthood’s general mission is to provide family planning assistance and general reproductive and sexual health assistance to low-income women, abortion is a service they are constantly criticized for providing to this country’s women.
The federal government’s thought process behind withdrawing funding is justified because they don’t want to seem as if they support unprotected sex, and they want people to realize abortions are not to be taken lightly. They are a serious matter and not simply a way to get out of a pregnancy.
The reasons for withdrawing funding are completely reasonable. Withdrawing the money they give to support the organization can be seen as the right thing to do because the federal government does not want to be seen as supporting abortions, which have become very common over the years. Today, more than 1 out of 3 women get abortions. It can be difficult to view this as a positive statistic. With so many irresponsible sexual encounters women have today, such as making the mistake of not using any protection, many think that these women are the reason Planned Parenthood provides abortion procedures.
Yet the fact is, according to Wikipedia, contraception constitutes 35% of total services, STI/STD testing and treatment constitutes 34%, cancer testing and screening constitutes 17%; and other women’s health procedures, including pregnancy, prenatal, midlife, and infertility were 10%. 2% to 3% of visits involve abortions. So abortion is not the only, and certainly not the most popular, service they provide. It is simply the most infamous. Yet 34% of Planned Parenthood’s revenue came from the federal government. While it is a huge loss for them, the government’s hope is that it will cause the American people to rely less of Planned Parenthood’s abortion services.