Arguments Against Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is a semi-publicly funded organization, designed to provide services related to reproductive and sexual health for women and men. Founded in 1916, Planned Parenthood offers many services including contraception, STI testing and treatment, cancer screening, and abortion. Despite offering essential services, the organization is under constant scrutiny, mostly due to the controversial nature of some of Planned Parenthood’s services, namely, abortion and contraception. Opposition to Planned Parenthood is based on moral, religious, and economic ideology. These reasons lead several politicians to attempt to lessen or completely cut off federal funding for the organization. However, the federal government should increase its funding

The Guttmacher Institute is a nonprofit institute whose goal is to promote educated and informed discussions about reproductive rights. In 2014, they found that 38,265,680 women were in need of contraceptive services. Among them were 4,700,650 women under 20 years old. Not only that, but 40.2% of these women earned below 250% of the poverty line. These statistics point to a strong need for these services at an affordable rate given the economic status of some women. Planned Parenthood offers contraceptive services at a lower price than private providers. According to U.S. News and World Report, Planned Parenthood offers all methods of birth control at lower rates including birth control pills, which can cost as much as $50 a month when purchased from a private pharmacy. In 2012, 79% of Planned Parenthood’s patients earned below 150% of the poverty line. By lowering prices on services for those with lower income, Planned Parenthood enables lower income people to access needed services. Guttmacher states that 5,239,330 women were given contraceptive services at publicly funded clinics in 2014, but most experts agree that an expansion of these services would increase this number

However, there is an economic benefit to funding the organization. The most major of these benefits comes as a result of increased contraception. According to Healthy People 2020, a government organization working toward the increased health of all Americans, a current objective is to, “increase the proportion of publicly funded family planning clinics that offer the full range of FDA-approved methods of contraception onsite.” Healthy People also states: “publicly funded family planning services prevent 1.94 million pregnancies [per year], including 400,000 teen pregnancies. These services are cost-effective, saving nearly $4 in Medicaid expenditures for pregnancy-related care for every $1 spent.” Given that in 2002, only 51% of pregnancies were intended, eliminating unwanted pregnancies would save the government an enormous amount. In fact, “public costs of births resulting from unwanted pregnancies were $11 billion in 2006.” Pregnancy and raising an infant is expensive, and many women turn to Medicaid and other social services to help them afford such a costly process. By increasing federal funding of clinics offering contraception, such as Planned Parenthood, the organization could expand its reach and impact, thus decreasing the number of unwanted pregnancies. Assuming that Healthy