Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit for women’s health, is once again under attack by people claiming to be anti-abortion. These groups, like Carolina Students for Life, might be well-intentioned, but they are, ultimately, perpetuating a culture that devalues female autonomy and the medical needs of many low-income people.
This board supports Planned Parenthood for its work as an organization that seeks to offer educatation and affordable medical care options to all.
Planned Parenthood’s prime ojective is to provide quality health care services. These include cancer screenings, pregnancy tests and HIV testing. Currently, one in five women will utilize their services at some point in their lifetime.
Planned Parenthood is often incorrectly stigmatized as an evil abortion factory, but the fact is that without it, unsafe abortions would still continue to happen. In the two decades preceding Roe v. Wade, it’s estimated that between 200,000 and 1.2 million illegal abortions occured, resulting in over 5,000 deaths. Humans, not partially developed fetuses, were dying needlessly due to restrictive abortion laws. Defunding Planned Parenthood would not lead to an abortion-free society; it would only endanger more women who could not afford abortions elsewhere.
Planned Parenthood could always improve, but to call for the entire removal of such a positive influence in our society is both reckless and potentially life-threatening. As this political battle continues, it is important to look past the rhetoric, no matter how earnest it may seem, and to actually consider which side values sentient life more.
