Planned Parenthood Debate

575 Words3 Pages

Planned Parenthood has remained a controversial topic in government and in households throughout America. There are split views on whether it should be funded by government or not, not to mention the underlying moral dilemma when it comes to abortions. In essence, Planned Parenthood was funded $500,000 in 2014. Though they are not prohibited to use federal funding on abortions, but Planned Parenthood conducts around 300,000 abortions a year using other funding. Recently, an anti-abortion group conducted an undercover interview and discovered that Planned Parenthood uses fetal tissue for scientific research, which is against the law. However, if patients who get an abortion choose to donate the tissue for research, this is legal. Since the breaking …show more content…

Legally, there have been split views as to whether taxpayer dollars should go to Planned Parenthood and its overall funding in government. On one hand, abortion is a controversial topic that not everyone agrees with. The idea of taxpayers paying to fund an organization that supports this is unacceptable to many pro-lifers. In January of 2016, “…the U.S House of Representatives voted 240 to 181 in favor of defunding abortion giant Planned Parenthood” (Freiburger). The reconciliation bill, which will end taxpayer dollars going into Planned Parenthood, is a large step for pro-lifers. This bill will also “…repeal major components of Obamacare, which also help subsidize abortion” (Freiburger). However, the other position is in favor of taxpayer dollars going to Planned Parenthood. Obama dismissed the reconciliation bill, saying it was “refighting (an) old political battle” (Freiburger). Regarding the video leaked online about Planned Parenthood, they said that they do not use tissue without legal consent and are ‘very, very sensitive’ about being perceived as illegally profiting from organ sales and charges only for the cost…of shipping the tissue” (Somashekhar & …show more content…

One position is that defunding this organization will save taxpayers’ money to use elsewhere. It is said that Planned Parenthood has “…nearly 530 million in annual funds” (US News & World Report). This amount of money could easily go to other social issues, not as controversial. In addition, there are many politicians who have spoken out against it and the Commemorative Coin Act was taken off the table that helped research funds for Susan G. Komen, a supporter of Planned Parenthood. The contradicting position is that women also have health care rights and do not want those to be defunded by the government. Defunding Planned Parenthood would make it more difficult for women who want to have abortions to get